


Forget-Me-Not Black

by IcyDeath



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Adventure, Brotps, Comfort, Everyone is awesome to Nico, F/M, Family, Love conquers all? XD, M/M, Nico Fading, Nico dream travels a lot, Retrieving Leo, Romance, Technically this is a very awesome story, They try to remember him
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-25
Updated: 2016-12-23
Packaged: 2018-02-26 23:36:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 43,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2670599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IcyDeath/pseuds/IcyDeath
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In trying to help Leo get back to the camp, Nico incurs the wrath of a certain vengeful goddess and overuses his power. Now, not only is the son of Hades fading physically, he was also fading in the memories of everyone who ever knew him. SolAngelo</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Uhm, hello SolAngelo fans! Nice to meet you! Is it okay to ride this ship of the sun angel? XD So yeah, here's my peace offering, this fic will span more than three chapters but less than five (I hope). I already started the second chapter so yeah, you don't have to worry about that. Uhm, this story is called Forget-Me-Not Black which is based on the flower Forget-Me-Not blue which is uh, now that I think about it, doesn't make sense except for the forget me not part. It's like a title saying don't forget Nico since the forget me not flower is named as such because the blue is hard to forget.
> 
> I think.
> 
> Anyway, thanks for reading this and uh, I love reviews and kudos! TY!

CHAPTER 1

 __“Piece by piece,  
I slowly fade away,  
I slowly drift apart.”   
― [Five Finger Death Punch](http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3304385.Five_Finger_Death_Punch)

Nico's eyes snapped open and he abruptly sat up as he sensed a change in his death radar. Will Solace, who had been checking his vitals, jumped back.

"Whoah, you really  _don't_ like being touched do you?" The son of Apollo joked as he retracted his fingers which had been taking the other's pulse. "Look, I'm sorry for taking your pulse while you were asleep but I thought you needed some rest and I wasn't about to wake you up just to-"

The son of Hades opened his mouth, probably to tell the blonde healer that he really didn't mind and he was sorry for scaring him (he isn't sure about what he feels about Will yet, so he is treading carefully around him because he  _doesn't need_  another heartbreak after Percy Jackson, thank you very much. And if the skeletal butterflies in his stomach were anything to go by, this boy- _this bright, cheerful, totally-his-opposite boy_ -had the potential to be another  _Percy Jackson_ in his life and might possibly cause him even more heartbreak than Percy ever did if he didn't smart up and  _do something_ ) but then he froze and he looked at the window, eyebrows furrowed in concentration.

Will cut himself off, tilting his head slightly at the strange reaction, "Nico?"

The dark-haired teen raised a hand, silencing the other automatically as he closed his eyes, face turned to the window. He could sense the living souls all around him, the bright pinpoints of lights that represented the fire of life of the demigods. A hundred kilometers west he could feel the souls of the old and dying coming from a hospital not far. He concentrated, pulling himself into a trance as he searched even farther and tried to grasp the disturbance he felt.

His radar seemed to shake, as though someone who was supposed to dead had somehow gotten back into the world of the living. The feeling felt distant but it was there and he was pretty sure it wasn't Hazel, whose presence he could feel and was on the other side of the world (people who were dead but came back to life had strong presences, just like that Gwen girl). This presence felt faint but most probably that was because of the distance but it was familiar, almost like-

The face of a certain demigod from the Seven entered his mind, smiling brightly, hair crazy, face covered in soot, and his soul so bright and powerful just like the flames he controlled. Nico flinched back as though burned, eyes snapping open in surprise.

A pair of warm hands caught him by the shoulder and Nico looked up into the pale blue eyes of the son of Apollo who was frowning down at him in concern.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"I- uh-" Nico couldn't help but be distracted by the face so close to his and he flinched at the touch on his shoulder but instead of letting go (really, Solace had no self-preservation sense at all if he was touching Nico of all people. Nico who could summon an army of skeletons to kick his ass for even  _daring_  to touch him), Will's grip tightened. "Death trance." He finally breathed out, "It's uh, when I need to concentrate, I go into a trance and uh, yeah." Great, he sounded like an idiot. He probably looked like an idiot in front of Will too.

The young healer frowned at him before finally letting go to cross his arms. Nico let out a sigh of relief, trying not to miss the warmth as he looked at Will. "I thought I told you no Underworld-y stuff? Are you breaking our deal, di Angelo?"

"Don't be a drama queen, Solace." Oops, there goes his default moody-teen setting. His nerves were ramped up because of the presence he felt and hope was warm in his chest. He felt slightly light-headed at the good news he could tell his friends, Jason and Piper would be so ecstatic, he wouldn't be surprised if they cried in front of them. Still, this was no reason to start snapping at his  _new-maybe_ -crush. He cleared his throat, "I was just trying to sense everyone's aura. I thought I felt something."

"And?" Will's eyebrow raised, "Is there a threat?"

Nico blinked, "No, no threat. I just felt a minor disturbance in my radar, but no threat." He assured him.

"Your radar?"

"Hard to explain." The son of Hades said automatically as he looked at the window before back again, "Anyway, were you performing my last check up?"

The son of Apollo gave him a look at the change of subject but decided not to push. "It's the third day, I can't exactly let you go without seeing if you're good to leave." He said as he sat by the edge of the bed and reached out.

By now, Nico was used to the son of Apollo taking his hands to sense if the darkness was threatening to envelop his existence again. His pulse jumped when warm hands took his cold ones, the thrum of electricity in his veins warming his blood. He watched Will close his eyes, humming to himself, the son of Hades took this chance to observe the features of his counterpart in the setting sun.

"You've been a surprisingly good patient for the last three days, di Angelo." Will said as he opened his eyes and gave him a lazy smile. He let go of Nico's hands, "You're almost at a hundred percent now. You just need to take it easy and continue drinking some unicorn draught for the next few days." And then he added sternly, " _Don't_  overuse your powers. Since you're a child of Hades, you're more powerful than the other demigods but your power isn't compatible with your body, which is why when you use it too much, there's a harsh backlash on you."

It was probably because he was too thin and ate McDonald's too much during his younger years, Nico decided. He nodded before asking, "When can I leave?"

A flash of emotion passed Will's face, too fast to see but the son of Apollo quickly smiled at him to cover it up, "Aw, come on, your stay in the infirmary wasn't really that bad, was it?"

Nico wondered if the healer was hurt at his sudden eagerness to leave. "No, no it wasn't that bad." He assured the other quickly, "I got some rest even  _if_  Jason was being annoying and insisted on visiting every few hours." He grumbled.

Will laughed good-naturedly and the expression on his face softened, "Yeah, he didn't need to worry about you being lonely here." Nico sputtered, "Besides, I was here to keep you company, right?"

The son of Hades was horribly aware that he must be blushing so he cleared his throat and just nodded. He can't help but curse his pale complexion which probably brought out his blush even more. "Yeah, uh, thanks, Solace." He said it sincerely though with a touch of embarrassment, "So, am I good to go?"

"Oh, wait, not yet. Let me do one last thing." Will said as Nico blinked at him. The young healer leaned forward and cupped Nico's face, making the younger teen look at him in surprise. He leaned forward and touched his forehead with the other's, eyes closing.

If Nico was red before, he was afraid he looked like a sunburnt radish now.

"Okay, you're a little warm but I guess that's just probably from sleep." Will said as he leaned back and let go with a grin. Nico gulped and had the urge to punch the son of Apollo in the stomach, run, and never come back. "You're okay to leave now, Nico."

Of course, when his emotions got the best of him, Nico did the only thing he'd always done whenever faced with a confusing situation. Get angry, "Don't do that again," He hissed but he had a feeling that he didn't look as scary as he wanted, especially with the blush still present on his cheeks. "I don't like being touched."

Instead of recoiling like Jason and a hundred other people did, Will just shrugged, "I held your hands before to sense the darkness in you and that constituted as touching." He pointed out, "You didn't seem to complain." He said teasingly and Nico felt the swarm of skeletal butterflies in his stomach become bees.

"That- That was different! It was for medical reasons!" Nico said defensively, "You could have used a- a thermometer!"

"Too much of a hassle." Will said easily as he leaned forward, still grinning. "Anyway, are you going to go and leave or should the doctor order you another three days in the infirmary?"

That made the younger teen jumped up from his bed, nearly tripping in his haste. "You're such a pain, Solace."  _And you're not even a real doctor._

"Aw, is that your way of telling me you love me?"

The heat in his face couldn't be healthy. The son of Hades was starting to feel light-headed, "Sh-Shut up! I'm leaving!"

He just knew Will waving at his retreating form, "Don't forget! No Underworld-y stuff for at least a month!"

"Whatever, Solace!"

"Nico." The voice that called to him was serious this time surprising him into looking back. Will's face was stern, "I'm serious."

His stomach did a strange flipping thing and he fought the urge to swallow nervously so he just nodded. He cringed internally at his lie. "Yeah." He said softly instead.

The smile Will gave him could have put the sun to shame.

* * *

Nico knew that finding the sudden, unexpected presence of one Leo Valdez in the land of the living was not something he could ignore. He knew that he should probably tell the others about this, but he didn't want to get their hopes up and watch it fall when it turned out that he had been dreaming the return of the infamous fire-wielder. So, he did the next best, logical thing, which was to pack for a self-assigned mission, get some permission from Chiron (so that the others wouldn't be suspicious of his absence), find Leo, and if he found him, drag him back to the cabin without anyone knowing he'd used his Underworld-y powers only a few weeks after nearly fading from existence.

Yep, that sounded about right.

The son of Hades opened his backpack, checking his money, placing a small bag of drachmas, a few hundred dollars, some clothes, ambrosia, nectar, and unicorn draught, and a first aid kit inside. He mentally checked anything he may have forgotten before straightening and snapping his fingers, putting out the torches.

Because of the dark walls, the Hades' cabin was darker on the inside than the other cabins, and this allowed Nico to sink into the cold embrace of shadows once more.

When he reappeared on a certain dark corner of the Big House, Chiron had been reading a dark, thick book on Roman history. He glanced up in surprise when the son of Hades stumbled forward with his bag. After a few weeks of not using his shadow-travel, the sensation of doing it had started to feel alien again, like the first time he did it. The son of Hades figured he'd get used to it again in time or maybe it was an after effect of being nearly becoming a shadow himself.

"Nico." Chiron said as he got up from his human disguise and emerged as a centaur. He frowned down at the son of Hades who blinked up blearily at him. "What do you think you're doing, shadow-traveling here? Hasn't Will told you to lay off on your powers? I heard from Hedge about what happened during your journey to get back the Athena Parthenos."

Oh great, had the coach told  _everyone_ about his moment of weakness? And how did Chiron know about Will's instructions? Had the healer gone around the camp telling everyone to keep an eye on him?

"I'm fine. I just didn't want to be seen." The son of Hades sighed as he ran a hand through his mussed up hair. "Besides, that was weeks ago and I'm feeling better. I was even released from the infirmary and everything."

"Recently released." Chiron corrected, still with a disapproving frown, as he crossed his arms. "You better have a good reason for this, son of Hades."

"I do." Nico said firmly, "Chiron, I want you to grant me a quest."

Whatever Chiron was expecting, it wasn't that. "A quest?"

"A retrieval of sorts." He faltered slightly at the centaur's inquiring gaze, so he added, "I sense that Leo Valdez may be alive."

Instead of being surprised, the teacher of heroes shifted from his spot, hoofs thumping nervously on the wood. "He won't be the first hero to come back to us alive." He admitted, "But if you say you  _sensed_ -"

"Earlier today I sensed a disturbance in the living world, like- like something suddenly appeared out of nowhere and came back. Sure, ghosts do that a lot, but this spark didn't feel like a fading soul, or a chained flame, it was more like a solid presence. Someone coming back to life." Nico explained to him. "It felt a lot like Leo's presence."

"Then, isn't it for the best if we tell the others of this good news?"

The young teen bit at his lip, eyebrows furrowed. "I'm not exactly sure if it's Valdez though. I could have dreamt it or it could be someone else entirely." He said before taking a deep breath and squaring his shoulders, "Either way, this quest is for the son of Hades. If it  _is_  Valdez then I'll bring him back here, if it's some random mortal soul coming back to life then I have to check out how it happened and put a stop to it before dead people come springing back to life, if it's another titan being revived then I have to kill it."

"This quest should be done by three people…"

Nico snapped his fingers and Jules-Albert appeared beside him, along with his favorite skeleton buddy, Bob Jr. "Three, like you said."

Chiron gave him an exasperated look, "You, Thalia, and Percy… I guess being stubborn and reckless is in the Big Three's blood." He sighed, "Very well, I grant you this quest Nico di Angelo, son of Hades, but in one condition."

The young teen looked at the centaur warily, "Yeah?"

"Promise me that once you come back, you will get the rest you deserve." Chiron said sternly, " _Proper_  rest. The gods know you deserve it."

Nico cracked a small smile, "I'll see what I can do."

Brown eyes softened, "You know, you need not do this quest alone. I'm sure, there are people who would gladly extend their assistance to you. So, why do you choose to do this alone?"

The searching eyes made him feel uneasy so Nico just shrugged, "I don't know, I guess, I'm just trying to make up for some things."

"And those things would be?"

"A lot of things." Nico answered, "I just- I just know I have to do this. Not just for Jason and the others but also for me, I guess. Maybe I see this quest as a sort of redemption."

"You feel as if you're redeeming yourself." Chiron nodded in understanding, "I could tell you that you do not need to seek redemption, that you don't have anything to redeem for, but you wouldn't believe me, would you?"

The young teen flashed back to what he did to Bryce Lawrence, reducing him to nothing more than another faceless, nameless spirit and then to Octavian firing the onager and himself right towards death. He shook his head, "I've done a lot of awful things, Chiron. I'm not a good person."

"A truly evil person would not see himself in the wrong, he always believes he is in the right and that it's everyone else who is evil and wrong." Chiron said softly. The teen didn't say anything to that so the centaur said instead, "Be well, Nico di Angelo and may the gods be with you on your quest."

Nico had nothing to say to that, so he just nodded before turning to that one dark corner, falling forward and into the cold embrace of shadows and darkness.

* * *

It was nearing dinnertime and Will had just finished another busy round at the infirmary. After the war with Gaea, a lot of campers had to come in and do their regular check-ups so that the children of Apollo could check if they were healing nicely or if there would be complications with their injuries. Hopefully this week's number of check-ups were dwindling, since majority of the campers were healing up quite nicely.

The son of Apollo looked around the gathered campers heading towards the dining pavilion. He wondered where Nico was again. After his afternoon check-out from the infirmary, no one seemed to have seen him (he'd ask around) and Will had a bad feeling that maybe the son of Hades' ignored his ' _no_  underworld-y stuff for about a month' order which would definitely earn the son of Hades a smack on the head by yours truly and also a week of confinement in the infirmary.

Will was headed towards his own rowdy table when he spotted Jason. He turned ninety degrees east and walked towards the son of Jupiter instead, running up to him and tapping him on the shoulder.

"Oh, hey Will!" Jason greeted, straightening his glasses. Will was still not used to the fact that Jason wore glasses now. "I heard Nico got out this afternoon, I wasn't able to catch him though. Is he alright?"

"He's fine, I wouldn't have released him if he weren't." The son of Apollo assured. "So, you didn't see Nico at all, after he was released?"

Jason's forehead crinkled, "No. I even went to his cabin before I came here and he wasn't there."

Just as Will was about to voice out his worry, Chiron appeared and headed to the center of the gathered demigods.

"Okay, everyone, settle down, settle down. I have a few announcements to make before dinner." The hero trainer said as everyone rushed to their own respected table with their siblings. Will waved at Jason, promising to talk to him later before going to join his siblings. His eyes couldn't help but stray towards the lone Hades' table, lips pursing at the absence of a certain dark-haired demigod.

Apparently, he wasn't the only one to notice Nico's absence. Percy was also frowning at Nico's table in contemplation, Annabeth seemed to be looking around as though Nico was just late, Jason was exchanging looks with Piper who sat at the Aphrodite table with her siblings. Even Lou Ellen and Cecil looked concerned.

Will sighed,  _Nico, maybe if your bangs weren't so long you'd be able to see how everyone cares about you._  He thought to himself, joke falling flat when he turned to look at the Hades' table again.

"Our Roman friends has sent me a message, inviting any interested demigods who are about to go to university to a short tour in the College of New Rome." Chiron said smiling when a few older demigods began to talk excitedly amongst themselves. Percy shot Annabeth a bright smile. "Also, with regards to the Hephaestus Cabin on Bunker nine…"

Will allowed Chiron's words to wash over him, not really listening to the brief announcement about Bunker nine  _or_  the new rules and regulations of the camp  _or_  when Mr. D would be coming about  _or_  about Nico di Angelo -

Wait, Nico?

The son of Apollo's head snapped up just in time to hear Chiron say, "-is on a quest."

"A quest?" Someone echoed and Will saw Jason straightening up at the corner of his eye. "But with Apollo out of commission, there shouldn't be any prophecies for a quest. How can  _Nico_  be doing a quest?"

The centaur thoughtfully scratched at his chin, "You are right, of course, Jason. But even without prophecies, demigods are still constantly needed to keep the balance in the mortal world. Nico di Angelo, son of Hades, is doing exactly that."

"But he just got out of the infirmary." Piper protested.

"He assured me he was one hundred percent fine."

"Shouldn't you be getting that assurance from someone from the Apollo cabin?" Annabeth asked suspiciously, but she remained seated, "You know, someone like Will?"

"I trust Nico's judgment just as he'd trust me with his life."

"Tell me he, at the very least, didn't go alone." Percy pointed out, a frown on his face, "Tell me he brought a friendly satyr or one of the others with him."

"He has Jules-Albert and Bob Jr. with him. Perfectly capable company." Chiron assured them.

As the demigods began talking to themselves, (one of the Stoll brothers even asking, "Who the  _hell_ is Bob Jr.?"), Will slowly stood up, garnering a few of the people's attention to him.

"When will he get back?" The usually upbeat and easy-going son of Apollo asked in a soft voice. Everyone was staring at him now but he didn't care. "When will di Angelo come back from his quest?"

Chiron shook his head, "He didn't say, but knowing him and the task he had been given, which I'm not disclosing," He said automatically just as Percy opened his mouth to ask, "I presume he will be back in a week or maybe less."

The son of Apollo accepted this with a nod, "Good." He said as he sat back down, expression neutral. "When he gets back I want everyone to restrain him and drag him into the infirmary. I'll tie that idiot to the bedpost just to get it in his thick skull  _to_   _rest_ , if I have to."

The campers let out wolf-whistles and the others clapped. Someone even yelled, "Kinky!" But everyone knew from the expression on Will Solace's face that he was serious in delivering his threats.

Oh well, Nico's return would definitely be something to see.

* * *

A few days later…

Leo let out a puff of breath, pushing himself away from beneath his mechanical dragon and looking up at the sky instead of bolts and screws for a change. He allowed his senses to be taken over by nature rather than machinery for awhile.

Suddenly his view was blocked by a pretty face, almond color eyes staring at him in curiosity. "Leo, are you alright?"

The fire-wielder blinked for a few seconds before a slow grin came over his face, "Hey." He mumbled as he consciously wiped at a grease stain he knew was somewhere on his face. "I'm fine, just got a bit tired with messing with Festus' inner working and stuff." He shrugged.

"Perhaps you should get some rest." Calypso advised as she finally pulled back and Leo had to sit up and turn just to keep her pretty face in sight. "You've been up a few days, 'tinkering'." Her nose scrunched up at the word but Leo couldn't help but feel pride at the fact that she was using one of the words he taught her.

"Yeah, but I really want to get back to my friends as soon as I can. I want to introduce you to them and maybe when you see Percy you can finally sock him on the face." He said hopefully to which Calypso just laughed. "Also, I'm not sure how long has passed since we left Ogygia and I'm getting worried that maybe it's been years or something and I have a lot to catch up on."

"That's true, but you aren't good to anyone tired Leo Valdez." Calypso pointed out, her eyes softening in worry. "If they  _are_  your friends, then I'm sure they can wait a little longer to be reunited with you."

The son of Hephaestus blinked before nodding slowly, "Yeah." He looked around. "Camping out here for long can't be healthy. I wish I knew where we are so we can find a place with an actual bed and fireplace for a change." He huffed.

"I do not mind." The young goddess said, "I always preferred looking up at the open sky of stars before I slept. It always made me feel so free. And now, I'm actually free." She gave Leo a blinding smile, "Thanks to you, of course, Leo Valdez."

Leo was aware that he was blushing, if he wasn't careful, his face would burst into flames. So he did what he was best at, which was to clear his throat and said in a confident tone, "Of course, I'm the man after all."

Calypso laughed at his false bravado, "The man of what?" She teased.

Leo's face of confidence was replaced by a thoughtful one, "You  _know_ , the man of  _awesomeness_ , action, heroism! Like Piper's dad!"

"You tell me her dad is an actor." Calypso said, "But he only  _plays a part of a hero_ , he isn't an actual hero. So I don't see the sense of comparing yourself to him when  _you are_  a hero."

Oh great, his face was probably going to self-combust at the rate he was blushing. Pretty girls complimenting  _him_  was pretty rare like water in a dessert. (Aside from Piper but hey, she's a different story) "I- uh, but you know he's really awesome when plays the part of a hero." He said instead, "Has the awesome powers and stuff. Like I think in one movie he had that power to travel into different places with a snap of his fingers."

Calypso hummed thoughtfully, "That  _is_ a pretty convenient power."

Leo sighed longingly, "Yeah, I know right? It  _would_  be pretty convenient if we had something like that right now. If only I could fly like Jason, I could just whisk you to camp and come back for Festus though I doubt I can carry this heavy piece of dragon metal." He patted his friend fondly to which his dragon replied with a whir. "Or maybe it would be easier if I could shadow travel instead like Nico di Angelo! Man, I'd totally rock the emo look and powers."

"Di Angelo?" Calypso repeated the Italian name curiously.

"Yeah, son of Hades and all that jazz." He explained, "He has this awesome Stygian iron sword and he can travel through places with the shadows, summon armies of skeleton for kicks at parties and he-"

"-can totally come to China and drag your butts back to Camp Half-blood." A voice cut through Leo's rant, making the new couple look up just as a certain son of Hades stepped out from the shadows. Dark eyes twinkled with softness and a relaxed emotion Leo had never  _ever_ seen on the other's face before. "Hello, Leo Valdez." The dark-haired teen greeted with a smirk, "Welcome back to the land of the living."

 


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

_ “It's better to burn out than to fade away.”   
― [Kurt Cobain](http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/33041.Kurt_Cobain) _

 

"Di Angelo!" Leo stood up hurriedly as he stumbled towards the other's direction and clapped him in the shoulder. Normally, the son of Hephaestus wouldn't even  _dare_  to touch the son of Hades (because one, the guy  _hated_  any type of physical contact and two, he scared the hell out of Leo, not that he'd ever admit it) but he was just so happy to finally see a somewhat, friendly face! Gods, it's been so long! Also, there was something  _different_  about Nico that finally made him approachable. "I see you came to help us out of a tight spot again! Man, we can always count on you."

Nico rolled his eyes but Leo was happy to see there was some amusement on his face, "It's becoming a nasty hobby." He shrugged, "Besides, you made quite an entrance into the land of the living, as the son of the lord of the Underworld, I had to come and see if anyone broke through the doors of death  _again_  and if they had to be put down." He said with a dangerous glint in his eyes.

Leo gulped, immediately retracting his hand and wondering if he was going to get into a fight. Sure, he was one of the  _supposedly_  most powerful demigods currently in existence, but Nico di Angelo? He was in a whole other level as them, being able to summon the dead and control them… He even had the feeling that the son of Hades could turn you into a spirit if he willed it.

Nico huffed in amusement at Leo's expression, making the other freeze. "Calm down, Valdez, there's nothing to worry about. I'm not here to bring you to the underworld like some old-fashioned Grim Reaper. Like I said, I came to drag you guys back to camp."

"Okay…" Leo said slowly, aware that Calypso was watching their exchange with interest. He looked at her remembering he hadn't introduced her yet, "By the way, this is Calypso!" He said with a proud smile, the son of Hades shook her hand only with slight hesitation. "So… are  _you_  the only welcoming party? Didn't any of the others want to get some love from Team Leo?"

Nico withdrew his hand. "When I sensed the disturbance in the world of the living, I had a vague sense that maybe it was you but I didn't want to get the other's hopes up so I decided to come on my own." The teen explained, "There was still a chance that the person who came back to life  _wasn't you_ , so I felt like it was my responsibility to see that nothing was escaping out of the Underworld and back here."

"That makes sense." The fire-wielder said as he looked around. "So, are you going to transport all of us with your shadow travel?"

Nico nodded, "Yeah."

"Wouldn't that be hard? I mean uh, you seemed worn out with transporting Coach Hedge and Reyna to camp with the Athena Parthenos. Last time I saw you, you looked about ready to drop dead. No offense." He said quickly.

"It's fine. It's actually been a few weeks since you 'died'. Nyssa would be glad to hear that she doesn't have to replace the head of the cabin  _again_." Nico said as he set his bag down, looking for a thermos inside and extracting it to take a drink. "I've been getting some rest since then and it helps that you guys landed in China which is the place I used to shadow travel to a lot when I was just learning my powers."

"But still, you need to rest." Calypso was the one who spoke this time, surprising Leo. Nico just turned his eyes towards the goddess, "I do healing magic and I can see that shadow-travelling too soon after your rest isn't good for you."

"I know." Nico admitted. "But someone has to help you get back, what with your ride looking like it can't last another ten miles. No offense." He said the last two words with a slight smirk.

But Leo was not offended, rather he was touched that the creepy son of Hades had actually cared enough about someone he was barely friends with, to come shadow-travel all the way to China just to get him and his sort of girlfriend back to Half-Blood hill. Leo had to seriously erase everything he knew about the son of Hades and rewrite it, with the words  _awesome_  and  _life-saver_ being the top two.

"We'll start to heading back tomorrow. We're just going to go at this a few hundred miles like I used to do with Reyna, that way I won't collapse once I'm back in camp." Nico said as he put down the thermos. Leo didn't notice his face was pale until he drank the whatever-it-was and started getting back some color to his face. "If you guys don't mind, I'll crash out on the most comfortable rock and patch of grass." He said before getting up towards a tree, taking out a blanket and lying down abruptly. In a few seconds he was asleep.

Leo turned towards Calypso, grinning and was about to say something but then he noticed the frown on her face. His grin fell as he asked, "What's wrong?"

The goddess shook her head, "You do not know how much he is sacrificing just to get you back to camp."

"What do you mean?"

"His shadow-travelling is taking a graver toll on his body than you think." She quietly stepped towards the son of Hades and leaned down to push his bangs aside. But then Leo's eyes widened when Calypso's hand passed through him for a moment before she retracted.

"Ni-!" Leo was about to yell in surprise and worry but Calypso shook her head.

"He knows. I believe that the last time he did this, he was almost consumed by the shadows." She said as she walked back to the fire-wielder. Leo's eyes were wide with fear and worry.

"But- why come and get us? He should have- should have had some back up or I don't know, waited! We'd get to camp eventually!"

Almond colored eyes looked at him silently, "He didn't want to get their hopes up and I believe he didn't want anyone to suffer his company since he can see more clearly than others how some people are afraid of him."

The son of Hephaestus gulped nervously, "Then he should have waited for us to get back."

"There is a lot of danger around us. With Gaea's recent fall, a lot of gods and goddesses on her side are vengeful and seeking their chances to take revenge. Monsters also thirst for demigod blood. He knew that the sooner he got to you, the safer you'd be." Calypso explained and well, Leo just felt like crap at this point. He sat down on the ground frowning heavily.

"Well, what should I do then? Is there any  _way_  to prevent him from disappearing before we get back to camp?"

Calypso smiled at the other's care, "Like I said, I used to be a sorceress and I was a healer to every hero that ever landed himself in Ogygia. If you want to help your friend, then help me make a medicine that would work better than unicorn draught."

"Unicorn draught?"

"It's what he was drinking to stabilize his body." Calypso patiently explained, "Now stop moping, Leo Valdez, and help me."

* * *

_Help us._

_Remember us._

_Join us._

_The whispers were getting worse, following him even in the daylight when he chose to trudge rather than shadow-travel, following his radar on that one not-quite right soul that 'shouldn't-be-alive'. The cold was always there now, clinging to him even when he walked in the hottest dessert. The shadows almost looked solid enough that they hung off his body like tar and even though he fought them off every step of the way he could feel himself sinking, sinking… being dragged down._

" _Hey, Di Angelo."_

_Warmth._

_Black eyes snapped open in surprise and he came face-to-face with the familiar grin of a certain son of Apollo. He was dressed in a faded_ SURF BARBADOS  _t-shirt, cutoff shorts and flip-flops, hair mussed like he just crawled out of bed to come check on him so early in the morning. The son of Hades felt his heart jump at his throat and he looked down to find the source of the warmth holding his hands._

" _You're doing pretty well on your second day. The darkness in your system is almost gone. Your stitches are healing quite nicely too." Will said as he retracted his hand and the son of Hades looked back up to see him turn and get a clipboard, writing down his observations. He turned back to Nico and gave him a wink, "Now, was getting some rest really that hard?"_

_Nico knew that this was one of his memories on his three days at the infirmary with Will hovering around him and prodding him with highly questionable-looking items while Jason came and went as he pleased, like a relative visiting a sick cousin. He also knew that at this point he would have said something snarky to the son of Apollo just to hide his blush or to ramp down the skeletal butterflies in his stomach._

_But instead of saying anything, Nico just smiled at the healer. He smiled at the memory of Will talking to him while he checked on Nico's condition. The son of Hades allowed himself to hold on a little longer to the hands that eventually held his to check the darkness in him again. He allowed himself to stare a little longer at the twinkling blue eyes that were as clear as the cloudless sky._

_Maybe it was a bit pathetic of him and maybe it was just a tiny bit sad that his comfort memory was being stuck in the infirmary for three days with a son of Apollo nagging his ears off whenever he can, about powers and responsibility. But this was the only memory inside of Nico that didn't make him sad or make him reminisce a childhood now gone._

_So he held on to it, he held on to the memory like a child of five held on to his first teddy bear, gripping it tight and never letting it go. Not even when the edges of the memory began to blur and Nico found himself blinking into wakefulness._

* * *

"-ill…" Nico mumbled as he turned a bit and blinked at the sunlight seeping through the leaves of the trees. He groaned, covering his eyes with his hand and looking around, "Will?"

Suddenly a mop of curly brown hair and wide mischievous grin entered his sight making him yelp and sit up, crawling as far away as he can from Leo Valdez. "Morning sunshine!"

"Valdez!" Nico shouted in annoyance at the fire-wielder, "What did I say about personal space?"

"Uhm,  _nothing_?" The seventh wheel said with a roll of his eyes, "Look, I didn't want to get up close and personal but you're pretty hard to wake up." And then a sudden twinkle of amusement shone in his eyes and Nico just  _had_  to wonder if this guy was probably a son of Hermes instead of Hephaestus and just got mixed up in the hospital with another baby. "I could even say that  _you sleep like the dead_." He snorted.

The son of Hades rolled his eyes at the lame pun as he brushed off the leaves and grass blades on his shirt and pants. "Haha, so not funny."

"Aw, man! Come on, you had to admit that was a classic!"

"I could drag your spirit to the underworld and introduce you to William Shakespeare and the other dead guys who invented 'classic' back in the BC years." Nico said pointedly and Leo closed his mouth with a snap. Satisfied he got his point across, the son of Hades looked around, "So, how long have I been asleep this time?" It still seemed light out, so it can't be that long…

"Uh, fifteen or eighteen hours, give or take?" Leo said as he looked down at his fingers counting just as Nico turned to him, eyes wide. "Sorry, I wasn't keeping track." He shrugged.

"That's not-  _Eighteen_ hours?" The son of Hades said in disbelief, running a hand through his hair. " _Di immortals_ , it feels like I've only been napping for an hour!"

Leo's eyebrows were scrunched in worry, "Dude, no, it's waaaay past an hour." He said, "Are you alright? You said you only felt like you rested an hour, maybe you should get some more rest-"

"No, we've wasted enough time already." Nico sighed, pinching at the bridge of his nose. He looked up and noticed that a certain goddess wasn't there. "Where's your girlfriend… uh, Calypso?"

The son of Hades watched with a touch of amusement as the tips of Leo's ears went red at the mention of a girlfriend but the Latino cleared his throat, "She went to get us some food. She's really good at getting free food." He said thoughtfully, "Now that I think about it, Chinese people  _really_  like giving free food to beautiful goddesses."

"Or they're just really hospitable like that. I'm pretty sure they don't limit free food to  _beautiful goddesses_."

"No, I'm pretty sure they do." Leo said with a serious nod, "Last time I went with her, I was pretty sure the town was ready to start throwing bread and salt at me. I think they thought I was some demon who kidnapped a pretty girl. Crazy right?"

The son of Hades smirked, "It probably didn't help that you  _looked_  like the part of an evil demon kidnapper, what with your face looking like that."

"Hey! There's nothing wrong with my face!"

"I didn't say there was."

Leo blinked in surprise before suddenly laughing out loud, wiping at the corner of his eyes. Nico eyed him warily, as though his amusement was grounds for concern. It probably was. "Man, I don't know what happened to you in the few weeks I was gone, but happiness suits you well, di Angelo."

It was Nico's turn to flush this time, made even more obvious because of his Italian olive skin. So Nico turned away, trying to scowl and look scary but it wasn't working because something had changed him, something ( _someone_ ) _had_  made him less of a creepy son of Hades in Leo's eyes and more of an awkward, teenager playing to be emo, which was both endearing and irritating at most. "Shut up, Valdez."

Leo grinned when he realized that Nico never denied being happy. So instead he sing-songed, "Aw, is the scary son of Hades  _blushing_?" He teased but then he yelped in fear when a skeleton hand came up from the ground and grabbed him by the ankle. He shot a glare at Nico, "Not. Funny."

The son of Hades let out a gruff laugh, hiding it behind his hands, and Leo felt his initial hostility from his first impression of Nico all those months ago, fade completely at the sight. He just snorted and admitted, "Okay, maybe a  _little_ funny." He said, "But if you don't tell this guy to let go, I'm going to set fire to your pants." He pointed.

Nico snorted and waved his hand casually, the skeletal hand going back under the dirt as Leo watched with curiosity. "You know, you'd be a riot during Halloween parties." He said in a contemplative tone.

"No." Nico said before Leo could say anything more.

"I didn't even-"

"No."

"Looks like you guys are having fun." Calypso's tone distracted Leo from his pouting and he turned abruptly at the direction of the goddess, a wide grin splitting his face.

"Hey! How goes the food hunting?"

The goddess shrugged her shoulders, caramel-colored hair held up in a ponytail instead of the usual braid on one side. "I got us some noodle things and buns with filling in it. The man who gave them to me assured that they were delicious."

Leo raised an eyebrow, "Man?"

"No need to be jealous, Leo Valdez." Calypso said, sitting next to the fire-wielder. "That  _man_  did not save me from Ogygia nor did he melt my table and become an infuriating pain in my backside for a few weeks before eventually making me fall for his stupid face and promises."

The son of Hephaestus grinned at that, "Glad to hear I made such an impact to your life."

"Who said I was talking about you?" She teased, making Leo splutter.

Nico shook his head at  _another_  couple making disgusting declarations of love in front of him. He reached out and took the bun and the noodles from Calypso before pointedly sitting as faraway from the love struck teens as possible.

He was half-way to finishing his food in peace when Calypso kneeled in front of him, a thermos in her hand. "Son of Hades, here." She offered it to him.

Nico raised an eyebrow before taking the thermos. He opened it and smelled the delicious scent of blueberries, "Nectar?"

Calypso shook her head, "No, it's my own special blend of medicine." She explained, "It's to help your body stabilize every time you use too much of your powers. It'll be more effective than unicorn draught."

The teen blinked in surprise looking down at the thermos filled with whatever-it-was before looking at Calypso. He opened his mouth and closed it before opening it again and saying a simple, "Thanks."

The goddess smiled at him, soft and gently, opposite to how she was with Leo which solidified Nico's certainty that the son of Hephaestus was indeed special to her if it could bring the fire out of this usually quiet and well-mannered goddess, "You're welcome." She said before standing up and going back to Leo's side and possibly chastise him for eating with his mouth open.

Nico watch them for awhile before looking at the thermos in his hand, smiling lightly.

It's nice, to have people who cared.

* * *

They had shadow traveled three times already and it was on the third day that Calypso felt something strange following them.

To be fair, it wasn't the first time that a monster came seeking them out, thirsty for the blood of powerful demigods. Nico, despite being worn out and looking like Death warmed over him, still put up a good fight, raising an army of skeleton even while he was panting on the ground, looking vulnerable. Most of the monsters came from the pit so he had this sense about them and always eliminated any danger before Calypso could even take out her blade or Leo could even summon fire.

This time though, the shadow-travelling was clearly taking a toll on his body, because the moment they arrived at the outskirts of some town somewhere, the son of Hades had even barely gotten to take off the harness he had wrapped around himself before he fell to the ground with  _FWUMP_!

As Leo rushed forward to help the already snoring son of Hades, Calypso narrowed her eyes and looked around trying to pinpoint the location of the eyes she felt at the back of her neck. Sadly, her powers as a sorceress was slowly diminishing ever since she left Ogygia so all she could really do was look around and see no one in sight. She turned back to Leo who was frowning down at the son of Hades.

Underneath the sunlight the young teen's skin had taken on a sickly pallor, sweat shined on his brow and his breathing was a little heavier than what was normal for sleeping.

"Maybe we should try to tie him up for a few days, force him to rest." The son of Hephaestus said seriously. "That way he can give his body a break or something."

Calypso shook her head, "He's in a hurry to get home. You can't blame him, you want to get back as soon as possible too."

"Yeah, but not at the risk of Nico fading!" The fire-wielder frowned, "I don't understand why he has to push himself so much like this. What does he have to prove?"

The daughter of Atlas hummed as she reached out and intertwined her hands with Leo who flushed at the contact. "I have sensed the son of Hades' soul, it is a very sad and dark soul which has a lot of regrets. Maybe, getting you back to Camp is his way of proving to himself he's not a bad guy."

Leo looked exasperated, "I could tell him that! I could tell him right to his face when he wakes up later-"

Calypso shook her head, "It's not the same thing. Besides, he's trying to prove to  _himself_  that he's not a bad guy." She smiled softly, "And maybe he has someone he likes in camp and he's trying to make himself feel worthy of that person's affection or something."

Leo blinked in surprise, "Wha… Nico?"

"Yes, Nico."

The inventor turned to his friend, eyebrows furrowed, "Nico likes someone?" He pondered with this thought for a moment, humming, "Hm, well it's hard to picture him liking  _anyone_  but I've seen him with Hazel, so maybe it's not really that hard to picture him caring for someone." He admitted, "Well, if he wants some romantic advice, Leo the love expert is right here!"

"Should I be suspicious of how you've suddenly become a  _love expert_?" Calypso raised a delicate brow, "Have you had a lot of lovers while I was locked up in Ogygia, Leo Valdez?"

At the accusation, Leo turned red. "Wha- No!" He began to splutter some excuse to which Calypso just smiled but then she felt that odd, cold presence again and she turned, eyes narrowed while Leo was too distracted trying to explain himself.

"-I mean, when I was in the Argo, I was with three couples!  _THREE_ couples, how can I  _not_  be an expert-"

The goddess shook her head and turned her attention back to Leo.  _If_ there is something out there, then she should be prepared for it.

* * *

_Nico forged through the gray and black terrain, walking with no specific destination in mind, ignoring and brushing off his memories which whispered to him in temptation to feel the emotions he felt while those scenes of his life happened._

_Of course, stomping through the dreamscapes with no real destination in mind would eventually get him to only one place. Nico was almost prepared for the way the ground dissolved at his feet and he fell into familiar backwater- the Hypnos Cabin at Camp Half-Blood. He had missed the camp bad enough that he didn't even snap at Clovis like last time for dreaming so powerfully._

_Instead, he sat by the fire place where Clovis was sleeping on the leather chair as usual with a mug of chocolate milk with marshmallow bobbing on the surface, on the side table. He allowed himself reprieve from the dreams and the nightmares of shadows and the memories that constantly pulled him back into past regrets and depressions._

" _I heard that visiting other people's dreams can be a reprieve from a person who dreams too darkly." Came a sleepy voice and Nico looked at the head of the Hypnos cabin, "Hello, Nico. Did I pull you off course again?"_

" _No, I was just walking around in the dreamscape, so of course I was basically asking to land myself here." The son of Hades said tiredly. Clovis gave him a searching, sleepy look._

" _Sleeping is a way for the soul to rest." The son of Hypnos said with a tilt of his head, "It looks like sleep isn't doing your soul any favors though. Are you pushing yourself too much despite Will Solace's instructions?"_

_At the mention of the son of Apollo, the skeletal butterflies in Nico's stomach (which laid low in the days he was searching for Leo) were resurrected as he hugged his knees to his chest and buried his face in his arms. He didn't answer._

" _Ah, well, I guess I can help you in that department." Clovis said, not really waiting for an answer, "After all, how can I call myself the son of the god of Dreams and Sleep if I can't even help a good friend to rest?" The son of Hades looked up just in time to see Clovis raise a hand, "Mind you, I don't usually like invading other people's dreams because you know,_ privacy _, but sometimes their dreams come and seek_ me _out and I believe I know whose dreams you'd find rest in the most."_

_The Hypnos counselor waved his hand and Nico's sight began to blur among the edges as everything was wrapped in a mist. He blinked his eyes rapidly, trying to see where he was when suddenly he recognized the familiar noisy buzz of the infirmary and he looked around to see himself surrounded by Apollo's children, restocking the inventory and the cupboards for supplies. At the head of it all was of course, a certain son of Apollo and head of the cabin, Will Solace._

" _Oh, Nico!" Black eyes widened as Will turned to him blue eyes brightening. He wondered if this was maybe (hopefully) Will's dreams. "I didn't see you there, why didn't you say anything?"_

" _I-" His mouth felt dry, it's been days since he last saw the son of Apollo and suddenly being forced into his presence without warning was_ not fair _. "Uhm…"_

_Will rolled his eyes as he reached out and grabbed him by the hand, surprising the son of Hades, "Come on, if you're just gonna stand there and make sounds, why don't you help us get some more bandages from town? Hey, I know, why don't we go together? Since I'm the Cabin counselor I can assign myself that task!"_

_Nico snorted at the suggestion and Will turned to him, eyebrows raised so he said, "That sounds stupid."_

_Will's lips twitched and his eyes looked wistful, "Hey, my cabin, my rules. I think it sounds great. Kylie, switch with me! I'll handle restocking the bandages and you check inventory!"_

" _Sure Will!"_

" _Now," The warm hand on his, tightened. Will flashed him a smile, "Let's head to town and get those bandages, di Angelo."_

_Nico felt his heart jump at his throat as he nodded mutely. In his mind, he thanked Clovis as he forced out a choked, "That sounds good to me."_

_Will's smile widened._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *stares at what she has made* I think this fic is becoming a monster. I just finished typing up until chapter 5 and I realized It will not end at chapter 5.
> 
> Thanks for the warm welcome to your fandom! I plan to contribute some more because my sister uh, she told me to make sure to contribute a lot -_- I WILL DO MY BEST (heh, get it? Will? Hehe) Also, please keep a heads up, I'm going to be posting a heartbreaking one-shot or two-shot about the pair. I'm in love with that one-shot but it's angst but it'll have a happy ending... in chapter two :D (if there is a chapter 2) Keep an eye out and thank you for the wonderful reviews and kudos and bookmarks XD
> 
> I think that one-shot is coming out today actually :3


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

_"It came to me that hell would not be fire and smoke after all but arctic, everything white and frigid. Hell would be not anger but indifference.”_  
― [Robert Cormier](http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/10442.Robert_Cormier), _[Fade](http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/2610357) _

 

Jason was going over the blueprints with Annabeth on the Zeus' table when he looked up to see Will coming in late for breakfast, bleary eyed and stumbling. He seemed confused, looking around as he ran a hand through shaggy blonde hair.

The son of Jupiter left Annabeth to murmur angrily to herself for a few minutes as she erased some things here and there and grumbled something about Dedalus' laptop or whatever. He raised a hand towards Will who took awhile to notice him, "Hey there Solace, rough morning?"

The healer tilted his head and Jason couldn't help but inwardly chuckle at how he looked like a confused kitten at the moment. "I, uhm, not really. I just…" He sighed and immediately Jason's amusement turned into worry.

"You okay?"

"Hm, yeah, I'm fine." Will sat down on the Zeus' table, right in front of Jason. He reached out for a loaf of bread and jam abandoned by a certain daughter of Athena for the blueprints. Annabeth was still too busy with her own work to listen to the two boys.

"I thought the children of Apollo rose with the sun." Jason asked, "Your siblings finished eating hours ago and it's nearly eleven, why'd you wake up so late?"

The son of Jupiter watched the son of Apollo chew on his sandwich thoughtfully for a moment before he finally answered, "I _thought_ I was awake." He said to Jason's confusion, "Have you ever had a dream before where you dreamed you were awake and doing things like usual and then suddenly you wake up and realize it was a dream?"

Jason blinked, "Uh, I guess? When I'm really tired, sometimes I dreamed that I'm already on my way for breakfast and then wake up realizing I hadn't gotten up at all."

"Yeah, it was something like that." Will sighed, "I dreamed that my siblings and I were checking inventory and then Nico was there-"

This got Jason's attention and so did Annabeth's, who looked up, eyebrows raised. "Wait, you dreamed about Nico?"

"Yeah?" The son of Apollo said, although it was more like of a question than an answer. "He was just helping out, you know? I dreamed that he went with me to buy some more bandages or something."

The son of Jupiter let out a breath, "Oh," For a moment he thought that the _actual_ Nico came into Will's dream asking for help or something. The son of Hades had mastered dream walking at a higher level than everyone else. Several of the demigods in Camp Half-Blood could do it, like Annabeth, but some didn't bother with that particular skill, like Percy. Anyway, they had Clovis for a reason. Then he turned curious blue eyes at Will, "So, was _that_ the reason you woke up so late?"

Will's eyebrows was scrunched in confusion, "It felt like he was _really there_ , so when I woke up I got confused, because we were in line for some McDonalds- did you know he's obsessed with those Happy Meal things?- when he suddenly disappeared right in front of me. And then I woke up."

Jason turned to Annabeth who exchanged looks with him. The daughter of Athena didn't say anything so Jason decided to take this into his own hands. He cleared his throat, "Do you… uh, dream of Nico often?"

Annabeth let out an exasperated sigh that sounded suspiciously like _boys_ as she rolled her eyes. Will dropped his sandwich on the table in surprise.

"I, uh… what?" It was funny how Will's voice almost squeaked at the last word. "I- No, I mean, sometimes? I dream of everyone else too!" He said indignantly and then his face burned as he realized what he just said. He slapped himself on the face and groaned, "That came out wrong."

Annabeth laughed, "Tell me about it."

"What I meant to say was…" The son of Apollo tried to regain himself, "I sometimes dream of camp and hanging out with everyone and yeah, sometimes Nico's there, sometimes he's not. He, uh, this is the first time I've really hanged out with him in my dream and I guess I got a bit confused when I woke up because it felt sort of real."

Jason accepted this with a nod but his blue eyes were still narrowed suspiciously at the blond who was now looking at his sandwich with a forlorn look. "Okay, well…" He sighed. "I'm just glad that it wasn't Nico in trouble or something, I mean, I don't know about you but I had enough of fighting for a lifetime."

Annabeth nodded as Will made another sandwich for himself. The daughter of Athena seemed to go into contemplative silence as she kept shooting glances at Will. Her eyes were stormy and she seemed distracted from the blueprints in front of her.

"Annabeth?"

"It's nothing." The daughter of Athena answered before Jason could voice his question. She sighed and turned back to what she was doing, "I just feel like you guys should keep an eye out."

Will turned to her, an eyebrow raised in surprise, "Any particular reason?"

She hummed thoughtfully, "Just a gut feeling." She said but she added in an even firmer tone that made Jason and Will exchange looks, "Don't let your guard down." She warned.

The two nodded in confusion.

* * *

Nico shouldn't have let his guard down.

Granted, it wasn't like he could resists collapsing in a heap after shadow travelling towards wherever this place was- probably Turkey or something- but he should have still had his guard up or summoned some skeletons to keep watch or something. But he didn't.

Which was why when he was surreptitiously torn from Will's dreams (he was still hoping those were Will's dreams), he was more or less not surprised to find Calypso and Leo held down by something invisible, eyes wide and telling him to run. Of course, after coming all the way to China just to make sure these two and Festus get back to Camp Half-Blood safely, the son of Hades would do no such thing. So he stood up shakily, summoned a bunch of skeletons and ordered them to help Calypso and Leo.

But instead of doing as he ordered, the skeletons turned towards the son of Hades instead and began attacking him. Dark eyes widened and the teen ducked and unsheathed his Stygian iron sword, immediately reducing his own summons to dust.

"Oh, good, you're not _entirely_ boring." A woman appeared behind him and Nico turned, scowling at her. Once upon a time, this woman probably used to be beautiful. She wore an elegant sleeveless dress of woven gold, her dark hair piled into a cone, encircled with diamonds and emeralds. Around her neck hung a pendant like a miniature maze, on a cord set with rubies that looked like crystallized blood drops. But now she was thin and pale like a ghost, and despite the power in her eyes she looked drained and dying. It reminded Nico of how Percy and Annabeth looked after stumbling out of Tartarus.

As though reading his thoughts, the woman scowled and she held up a hand. Almost immediately mist began to surround Nico. He backed away and started coughing when the air around him turned venomous. He dropped his sword and covered his mouth, wheezing and coughing.

"Do _not_ look at me like _that_ , you filthy, little cockroach." The sorceress spat, "You _dare_ look at me with pity? You should be grateful that you're even standing in my presence! The presence of the great Pasiphaë!"

"Pa-" Nico coughed harshly, "You're not supposed to be here! H-Hazel dropped you straight t-to Tarta-" He was unable to finish his sentence, gasping as he fell onto a kneel, poisonous gas in his lungs, burning him from the inside out. He could hear Leo making panicked, muffled yells.

Pasiphaë sneered as she walked forward when Nico fell to the ground, coughing. She stepped on his head, "I must admit, your sister did a good job. Fooling me in my own maze and dropping me into that- that _place_!" She put pressure on her foot and he groaned, "But my mistress managed to bring me back before you destroyed her. I was clever, I hid and bided my time, not like those _stupid_ Titans who went charging into battle. I hoped the giantess, Periboia, the only _female_ mind in their idiotic group, would knock some sense into their heads but I guess there was just too much stupid man hormones in that room." She said, " _I_ , on the other hand, managed to escape the massacre at Half-Blood Hill. And because of that brilliant planning I can deliver my revenge on your sister, Hazel Levesque _through you_."

Nico gritted his teeth and forced himself to speak, "My friends will hunt you down, my father himself will make sure that you will suffer for eternity in the Fields of Punishment-"

The woman laughed with insanity, "A small price to pay for the pleasure of seeing the horror and the pain your death will cause to those demigods!"

The son of Hades highly doubted his death would cause much grief and if he had enough non-toxin air in his lungs, he probably would have snorted and said so. Instead he just coughed some more and tried to focus on surviving this. The longer he talked, the more he felt his life slipping away. He focused instead on his anger and the protective instinct roaring in his chest as he thought about his sister, Hazel and his friends, Leo and Calypso. If he didn't get out of this alive, Leo and Calypso could be killed and then Pasiphaë would go after Hazel.

His sister had been through so much, she didn't deserve to have her life ruined again, not when she was finally happy.

This thought was what gave Nico the strength to fight the poisonous mist with his own darkness. The ground where he laid at, turned black and cracked as dark mist and shadows seeped through and fought against Pasiphaë's powers.

The woman's eyes widened as she realized what he was doing. She gave him an ugly frown and stepped on his head a little harder. Nico gritted his teeth and his eyes flashed. Fissures appeared on the ground and a blast of darkness sent Pasiphaë backwards and to a tree.

The son of Hades stood up unsteadily, leaning down to pick up his sword to lean against it. The shadows licked at his jeans and continued to ooze from the cracks from the ground like tar. Leo and Calypso were silent now but Nico knew that it wasn't because they were knocked out by the poison gas. He didn't want to turn and see their expressions. It was easier to focus on his hatred and anger instead. It was easier to hate this woman with his whole being for even _thinking_ of disrupting the peace after everything everyone had been through.

He was barely aware that the temperature around him had dropped and instead he walked forward, trying not to stumble. He stopped in front of Pasiphaë who was groaning and clutching her head. Her wild eyes widened when she saw him right in front of her.

The son of Hades' face was blank as he spoke to her, "I could erase your existence, bury you into the ground, turn you into another nameless spirit."

The sorceress let out a disbelieving laugh, she seemed to be unable to move, "You couldn't." She spat with conviction but she didn't seem so sure.

"I could." Nico said in a flat tone,

Pasiphaë let out a mirthless laugh, resolve strengthening. "No, you're like those _other_ demigods, like Hazel Levesque. She could have killed me or ended me, but she _didn't_."

The son of Hades didn't say anything. Instead, he allowed the darkness to convey to her what happened with Bryce Lawrence. The way the Roman begged and yelled before Nico took his voice from him, his identity and turned him into another faceless, nameless soul. He let her taste his anger, his anguish, and his _willingness_ to do that again regardless of the consequences, if it meant his friends and sister would be safe.

He didn't care if he had to take another life. He didn't care about what was right and wrong.

Pasiphaë's face became even paler and she probably sensed that Nico's morals weren't as many as the other demigods she'd met, based on what the darkness told her.

The teen raised a hand, steeling himself into the inevitable, turning another person into a spirit through his will and dragging her to the Underworld and to the Fields of Punishment. He also readied himself for the horror-etched faces of Calypso and Leo, and at the back of his mind he knew that after this, even _if_ Will and Jason still wanted him to stay, it would be very hard for him to be in Camp-Half Blood. Especially since pretty soon his hands would be tainted with the blood of three people now.

Despite the sinking feeling in his gut and his hatred for what he was about to do, Nico thanked the gods that Hazel and Will weren't here to see this.

But just as he closed his hand into a fist, his form started to flicker. He looked down wide-eyed, seeing his body turning into shadow-like mist and the voices that had been whispering at the back of his mind, became ultimately _louder_.

_Join us._

Pasiphaë saw his hesitation and watched his form flicker. An evil smile lit her face but just as she was about to stand, Nico turned to her, scowling amidst the shadows forming around his body. The sorceress' form flickered and she fell to the ground, holding her head, her nose bleeding. He felt satisfaction at the fact that he could reduce her to something like this, and despite the fact that his sword had slipped through his fading hand, he continued.

"NICO!" Because of the weakening goddess, Leo and Calypso had managed to break free from the invisible grasp keeping them down. The fire-wielder coughed as he ran up to the son of Hades, arms doused with flames as though trying to fight back the cold Nico's presence exuded. "Nico! Stop!" He grabbed the other by the shoulder, thankfully his touch didn't go through, and Leo turned the son of Hades away from Pasiphaë.

Calypso headed towards the sorceress, a frown on her face as she kept her eye onher. Once Nico lost eye contact of Pasiphaë, the sorceress slumped to the ground, seemingly unconscious but not yet a spirit.

"She's going to hurt Hazel." Nico murmured, not really seeing Leo. "She'll disturb the peace, I have to _destroy_ her-"

"Whoa, whoa… Calm down, cowboy." Leo tried to joke all though his face was anything but joking, "No one needs to destroy anyone, okay? We'll send her packing to Tartarus but no destroying or turning someone into… whatever it was you were doing."

Dark eyes hardened, "I have to."

"No." Leo said patiently, "No, you don't." He said, "You don't have to do _anything_ , _no one_ has to do _anything_. No one needs to destroy this crazy sorceress just because she's uh… crazy and tried to kill us. We can't stoop down to her level!"

"And that's exactly why _I_ have to do it!" Nico snapped, getting out of Leo's grasp and almost collapsing if the fire-wielder hadn't caught him. His traitorous mind reminded him of that time Will had caught him after he'd summoned some skeletons to help fight the Romans. "No one's going to do it, so _I_ have to. I'm the son of Hades, doing the dirty job is my responsibility. No one's hands have to be tainted but _mine_. I _have_ to stoop down to her level because you guys _can't_. Because people like _her_ needs to be _stopped_ and to be taught to leave my friends and my sister alone!"

Leo seemed stunned at his confession before a rare serious look overcame his face. "You can't believe that." When Nico said nothing he huffed in indignation, "That's crazy! Your hands aren't tainted! You don't have to stoop down to her level just for peace! You're a hero like Percy, like Jason! You're crazy strong! Strong enough _not to kill anyone_ just because of a misplaced sense of justice!"

"I'm not-"

"Oh, what? You're not strong enough to stop evil people from ruining lives without killing them?" The fire-wielder said and he poked the son of Hades on the ribs, "Then _be_ strong enough! Be so strong that, I don't know, that people would run at the mere mention of your name or something! Because that would be so much _cooler_ and so much _better_ than fading away and killing people for the sake of those you love!"

For a moment, the son of Hades looked at Leo in wide-eyed silence. The son of Hephaestus was frowning at him, hands gripping his shoulder tightly as Nico searched his face. He seemed to find whatever it was he was looking for because a second later, his shoulders slumped as he said, "That's easier said than done, Valdez." His head was pounding and he couldn't feel his body now.

"Yeah? Well, you helped defeat Kronos and without you we'd never have rescued Annabeth and Percy and saved the world from Gaea." The son of Hephaestus said, "So less talking and more doing."

The son of Hades let out a sound half in disbelief and half in amusement. He opened his mouth to say something but then he was cut off by a yell from Calypso.

Nico turned just in time to see Pasiphaë throw herself at the goddess. Leo's eyes widened. "Ca-!"

The son of Hades didn't think. One second he was being held up by the fire-wielder and the next he shadow-traveled right in between Pasiphaë and Calypso just as the sorceress took out a small, celestial blade with inscriptions and tried to stab her fellow sorceress with it. Nico willed himself solid as the blade sunk into his skin rather than through him and towards Calypso.

He saw Pasiphaë's teeth gleam as she smiled maliciously, as though she'd been aiming for him all along. Nico felt Calypso being pulled from underneath him and his back met the ground as he gritted his teeth. He could feel the blood in his shoulder seeping through his shirt.

Pasiphaë had started chanting and Nico's eyes rolled to back as he felt his form flicker and start to dissolve. " _Yam ouy eb enog rof ytinrete, hsinav, reven ot eb nees, nettogrof neve ni yromem!"_

The son of Hades sputtered as he felt himself seeping through the grund, the darkness claiming him, the voices shouting in his mind, nearly deafening him in its intensity.

" _-Enon llahs evas ouy, enon llahs erac. Ouy llahs-_ UGH!"

But then the sorceress choked and her eyes widened. She looked down at her stomach and saw that a blade had gone through her.

She dissolved into yellow powder right before Nico's eyes as the son of Hades' body stopped flickering and solidified again. He let out a series of coughs and curled upon himself, his shoulder aching. His entire body felt like it was on fire. He felt cool hands on the back of his neck and on his forehead.

"Wha-" He began to mumble when he blearily made out Calypso and Leo's faces. "I thought you said no killing?"

Leo snorted but his face was etched with worry despite his forced grin, "We didn't exactly kill her, Calypso had this weird blade thingy in her bag, it sent Pa- whatever-her-name-was back to Tartarus. And seeing as Gaea is down for the count, no one will be reviving her any time soon."

"Good…" Nico murmured as his eyes began to drop, "That's-" He couldn't form another word, his mouth felt dry and his vocal chords refused to work. A soft hand brushed his bangs to the side.

"It's okay, son of Hades, you can rest now. We'll take care of you." Calypso murmured soothingly as Leo helped carry him somewhere safer, away from the coldness and darkness.

"Hazel…" He managed to mutter and Leo's grin faltered.

"We'll get you back home, buddy. Promise, you'll be safe with us. We'll get you back to Hazel and Jason and Percy and-" The son of Hephaestus tried to assure him as he thought of other names.

"Will." Nico couldn't help but say.

The fire-wielder's forehead crinkled in confusion, "Will what? Do you need something?" Thinking Nico was saying 'will you-' or something like that.

Calypso shook her head and whispered, "I think it's someone's name. I think 'Will' is a person.

"Oh." Leo seemed stunned, knowing only one Will back at camp but he held on to that name as he nodded with determination. "Yeah, yeah… We'll take you to see Will too. Will Solace, right? Head of the Apollo cabin? He'll help fix you up, make you good as new." The fire-wielder promised. "It'll be okay."

Even if Nico had anything more to say, he wasn't given a chance as the darkness seeped into his consciousness and dragged him into sleep.

* * *

"-ill? Will? WILL!" The sudden call made the head of the Apollo cabin jump in his seat. He looked up to see Chiron and the counselors, except Clovis, giving him weird looks. He gave them all a hesitant smile.

"Uh, yeah?"

Lou Ellen gave him a worried look while Annabeth crossed her arms, expression thoughtful. "We were just asking what you thought about holding medical seminars for Romans who are interested in healing and medicine."

"Oh, that sounds cool." He said with an interested nod but everyone, even Clarisse, continued to give him weird looks. "What?"

"You, uh…" Butch cleared his throat, "Is there something wrong with your hand?"

Will's eyebrows furrowed. "No, why?"

"You sort of mummified it while we were talking." Miranda was the one to point out and the son of Apollo looked down to see what she meant. Sure enough he found his hands covered in Ace bandage. Maybe if his mind wasn't so far away, he would have been embarrassed.

"Oh."

Travis raised an eyebrow at his weak reaction, "Okay, clearly something is up with you. Everyone's staring at your hand which you unconsciously wrapped in bandages despite not having any injuries and your only reaction is 'oh'."

The healer sighed, "Look, I don't know what to tell you. I got distracted or something, my mind isn't really into this meeting…?"

"Is this about the dream you had?" Percy piped up and when Will gave him a surprised look, he shrugged. "Annabeth told me."

Clovis snored louder on his chair.

"No." Will shook his head, "Just… something feels off." He said, eyes growing distant, "Something doesn't feel _right_."

"Could it be because a certain son of Hades isn't here?" Lou Ellen piped in and everyone shot her a look. Miranda's nose scrunched in confusion as did Jake's from the Hephaestus cabin. " _What?_ He _is_ the only one missing and we know that Will and Nico were all buddy-buddy during those three days at the infirmary." She said with a shrug as she gave the head of the Apollo cabin a mischievous look that would have given Cecil, from Hermes' cabin, a run for his money.

"Is that true, Will?" Chiron turned to the young healer, "Are you worried about Nico?"

"Do you think something happened to him?" Jason asked worriedly, "Did he visit you in a dream or something?"

Will shook his head, "He didn't. And I don't know what feels off but maybe it _does_ have something to do with Nico. I don't know, I just have a bad feeling."

"A son of Apollo, the god of Prophecy, having a bad feeling is never a good thing." Piper said as she turned to Chiron and the Butch. "Can we contact Nico through Iris message or something? Maybe to check up on him or see how he's doing with his quest? What do you think, Butch?"

"I could pray to my mom later and ask for her guidance on that." Butch nodded, "The communication channel hasn't been right ever since Gaea woke up, but they're patching it up. I'll see what I can do."

"If that doesn't work, we can always try Fleecy." Percy piped up and when no one seemed to get what he meant, he deflated, "Frank and Hazel would _totally_ get what I meant."

"Okay, settle down Seaweed Brain." Annabeth said to her boyfriend. She turned to Chiron, "Well, anyway, obviously none of us can have this meeting properly if Will's distracted, so I propose we move this to tomorrow instead."

Will felt bad that they have to cancel a meeting just because he couldn't get his head in the game but he felt relief that he could be left alone with his thoughts for a while, at least.

Chiron nodded his agreement in this matter, "Very well, I'll discuss this delay with the Roman praetors. All of you may go back to your respective cabins. This meeting is adjourned."

Several chairs scraped against the floor and a few of the counselors clapped Will on the back, telling him not to think about it too seriously and just relax. The son of Apollo just thanked them as he got up to leave as well but then he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. He looked up and met Chiron's kind gaze.

"Maybe you should skip your shift on the infirmary just for today." He suggested, "You seem more tired lately, ever since the war with Gaea."

"A healer can't rest until everyone's okay." Will said but he nodded at Chiron's suggestion. "But yeah, I think you're right. I'll head back to my cabin and get some rest."

"Excellent." The centaur said in approval before turning to leave, "Have a nice rest Will." He said as he prodded Clovis awake. Just as the son of Hypnos fell off his chair, Will stepped out of the Big House. He greeted Miranda Gardiner, head of the Demeter Cabin, whom he passed by before heading towards the Apollo Cabin.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Jake from the Hephaestus Cabin asked when he saw Miranda walking towards the Demeter cabin in a sort of confused daze. He was headed the same way as her.

"Nothing, I just-" Miranda shook her head before looking at the teen, "Do you know anyone called Nico from the Hades Cabin?"

Jake blinked at her like she was crazy.

"No." He said shaking his head, "No one stays at the Hades Cabin, you _know_ that. So, no clue."

Miranda hummed thoughtfully before she nodded and entered her cabin.

Jake let out a sigh of disbelief and murmured to himself, "Seriously though, who the hell is _Nico_?" He couldn't help but wonder as he walked away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so it begins.
> 
> Basically if you want to translate Pasiphae's spell, all you have to do is read the words backwards like 'Yam ouy eb' is actually: may you be. I had fun typing the whole spell backwards, haha. I know it should be Greek but there's no internet in our place because of stuff, it's complicated, and I only go to the internet café just to update, I don't have time for anything else. So yep, I guess that's why the spell turned out like that.
> 
> Anyway, reviews are awesome and accepted with open arms. Thank you!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Will can do archery but he's not as good as his siblings, that's what I believe anyway. It's like he's an average archer, can shoot on the outside rings but he's not as bad as Percy but very rarely lands a bull's eye.
> 
> Also I know that I've updated earlier than usual, well the reason is because of the typhoon coming our way. People here are scared (because typhoon Haiyan crash-landed in our island of all places) so I decided, eh I'll update today.

**Chapter 4**

_"I may fade in your memory but you won't in mine. You're that unforgettable and Important to me."  
_ Me (because I couldn't find an awesome quote about fading)

 _In his bout of unconsciousness, the son of Hades found himself stumbling through the gray and black terrain of dreams once more. Reality, dreams, and his memories blur together as one wherever he turned. Sometimes he found himself in Tartarus again but he wasn't alone, Will was with him, running off to distract monsters with an_ "I got this!" _Even though that never happened and Will had actually been running from Romans._

_Sometimes he found himself stuck in that bronze jar with the twin giants, but instead of the twin giants, Will and Butch were outside, talking about him._

"I'm trying to contact him but it won't connect." _The son of the Rainbow goddess said as he frowned. Nico stood up in his jar and pounded on the glass._

 _Will was frowning as he looked down at something,_ "Can't you, I do know, connect to a private line or something?"

 _Butch rolled his eyes,_ "This  _is_  a private line. I had to call in a favor from my mom just to get a private connection, you know?"

 _Nico's palm landed on the cold glass as he called,_ "Will!"

_The ground vanished beneath him and he found himself falling and then landing in the Argo II. The sky was dark and he looked down to find himself on the watch-out tower again, sitting down. Hazel and Leo were down on the front deck talking amongst themselves. They were probably wondering why he didn't take up their offer on Percy's room. The words themselves made his hands curl into fists._

_Then suddenly, Will was behind him and he looked up, surprised to see the son of Apollo smiling down at him. This was another overlap of memories, his anguish in Argo II and the happiness and peace he felt in the infirmary when the healer was watching over him. Even in the night as the moon shone down on his blonde locks and pale blue eyes, the son of Apollo looked ethereal._

"Come on, son of Hades, is it really so hard to relax? You just have to give me the promised three days and I'll be off your back." _Will said, holding his hands up and despite the pain this memory cost him (the person he held most dear at the time was in Tartarus), Nico couldn't help but smile._

 _Then the memory blurred on the edges and the night became even darker as the son of Hades found himself in the familiar surroundings of the Underworld. Hades stood next to him, but he knew this was nothing more than a memory of his father._ "I will prepare a room for you at the palace in case you do not survive." _The look his father gave him was uncharacteristically soft and kind,_ "My children are so rarely happy… I would like you to be an exception." _As he said that he turned his sight to Persephone's garden and Nico followed his gaze. His heart rate doubled._

_Will was there again, frowning down at a flower before leaning down to pluck it. This was from another memory, in his three days at the infirmary. He had been watching the son of Apollo picking herbs from outside his window._

_Nico stepped forward and the place changed into the familiar interior of the Hypnos Cabin. The teen froze in shock. Clovis stood before him, expression vacant and voice soft,_ "Sleeping is a way for the soul to rest." _He said and he smiled,_ "I believe I know whose dreams you'd find rest in the most."

_His whole surroundings changed and Nico blinked as he found himself in another cabin, this time a cabin of a certain sun god. He looked around and found a certain Head Counselor of the Apollo Cabin snoring on his desk with stacks of books on healing and literature to the side._

"Should we wake him?" _Some of the Apollo children whispered,_ "I mean, it's way past sunrise now…"

"Let him be, he's tired." _Another, older camper said._ "Let's all head to breakfast and then archery practice afterwards." _Clearly this person was in second-command as everyone filed out of the cabin towards the Mess hall. When the door shut closed, Nico headed towards Will and placed a cold hand on his shoulder._

"Will." _He whispered and the son of Apollo jerked awake. Blue eyes blinked up at him wearily before widening in recognition._

"Nico?" _He jumped up and threw himself at the son of Hades, hugging him enthusiastically,_ "You're back!"

_The son of Hades froze at the contact, his instinct warring at him to push this person away. He still wasn't a big fan on the whole physical contact thing. But Will was so warm and his presence was comforting like Reyna's and instead of pushing him away, Nico let himself relax._

"Calm down, Will."  _Nico's voice was muffled,_ "You're dreaming, this isn't real." _At those words, the son of Apollo retracted, blue eyes wide._

"What?"

"You're dreaming." _Nico said firmly, crossing his arms._ "I'm not back from my quest yet."

 _The healer looked confused and a little lost,_ "Wha- But- when are you coming back?"

 _The son of Hades couldn't help the small smile on his face at the tone,_ "Don't worry, I'm on my way back now. But it'll still take a couple of days. I just came here to tell you to stop Iris-messaging me. I'm currently in a place where the messages don't go through." _He lied._

 _Will gave him a frown, "_ If you say so." _Then the blue eyes narrowed,_ "You haven't been shadow travelling, have you?" _He accused._

 _The son of Hades' body stiffened in response to that but he tried to act nonchalant,_ "Maybe a few times, but nothing major. Just a few hops here and there when monsters gain speed on me or when I can't find a car to hitchhike." _He really hated lying to the son of Apollo but he didn't want to worry him either._

 _Thankfully, Will accepted this with a nod._ "I can't check up on you, since this is a dream. But you better not be lying to me."

_Nico didn't say anything and Will's worried frown grew._

"Is that all you came for to say?" _The son of Apollo asked._

_Nico thought back to his mixed up memories._

I will prepare a room for you at the palace in case you do not survive.  _His dad had said. He wondered if it applied to this quest too._

"Solace…" _Nico said stepping forward into the other's personal space, Will blinked down at him. Already, the son of Hades could feel this dream fading along with his memories and other dreams, soon he would wake up and he wouldn't know how long he'd been unconscious. He hoped Leo and Calypso hadn't contacted anyone in Camp Half-Blood about his situation. He looked up at the healer and said the words he forgot to say back in the infirmary after Will went out of his way to look out for him._ "Thank you."

"Nico?"

 _The son of Hades cleared his throat,_ "Thank you for… you know, for the infirmary thing and also, for helping me during the war. It's uh, it meant a lot when you helped me and told me stop being an idiot and not to leave camp."It was probably the reason I stayed.

 _The son of Apollo gave him a surprised look and an uncertain smile, not knowing what to feel about Nico's sudden gratitude. He had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach._ "Hey, no problem. It's what friends are for, right?"

 _Nico gave him a sad smile,_ "Yeah." _He said as he stepped back and away from the Apollo counselor. His form began to flicker and his body began to fade as he said to the wide-eyed son of Apollo,_ "Tell Jason and the others hi for me."

_His last vision was of the son of Apollo reaching out towards him._

* * *

Thankfully, when Nico woke up, he wasn't covered in brown gunk like before, though he did find himself lying in the middle of a meadow filled with flowers, a blanket underneath him and the sun beating down on him. The warmth on his skin was unnatural and the light was too bright so he sat up and covered his eyes. He realized he was stripped to his boxers again and when he looked to his shoulder, it was wrapped in bandages with strange sigils on it.

"Oh good, you're awake." Nico turned around and saw Calypso with a strange jar, headed towards him. There were bags under her eyes, like Reyna, and he had a sinking feeling that his little beauty rest lasted a lot longer than he'd like.

"How long-"

"Four days." She sighed as she kneeled beside the son of Hades. She took a wash cloth and dipped in the contents of the jar before extracting it and taking the son of Hades' arm to begin wiping it on his skin. Nico flushed.

"I can do that-" But then he stiffened when he felt his skin tingle at the contact of the liquid, he sniffed and smelled the scent of irises and blueberries. "Uh, are you trying to cook me?" It would make sense, lathering him in food products and setting him under the sun.

The goddess rolled her eyes, "I'm an expert healer back in Ogygia. I used to help heroes from the brink of death, remember?" She explained, "You're the first hero I had to drag back from the brink of fading though, so I had to get creative. This is my own medicinal herb, they came from my old island. I mixed them together and created a medicine of  _balance_  to help solidify your form and keep you from fading. It's nature magic."

"Okay…" Nico nodded, "And why am I lying in the middle of a field of flowers under the sun like I'm supposed to be tanning."

"You  _are_  too pale." Calypso said, "But look underneath you." The son of Hades did. His eyes widened when he saw that underneath the blanket and forming a perfect circle around him were dead flowers. "You needed to expel the darkness from your body. The medicine helped but the sun made the process faster, and the ground absorbed it."

"Oh great." Nico grumbled, "As though Pan dying was not enough." He sighed. He knew that his presence sometimes withered up plants and he knew it was unavoidable, but that didn't mean he could like it. The son of Hades sat up and hovered a hand above the dead flowers.

Calypso's eyes widened as he saw Nico siphon the darkness and flowers began to bloom again. The darkness hovered above Nico's palm before it dissolved under the sunlight. "How did you-"

He remembered a curl of smoke entering his mouth when Pan died, a piece of him entering the lord of the dead's son. It was sort of ironic. "It's hard to explain." Nico shrugged, "Long story, short, I met Pan."

He knew that his story was hard to believe, even the satyrs and nature spirits doubted Grover's story, even more so when he mentioned the son of Hades being there but Calypso seemed to believe him. "Okay." She leaned forward to continue washing him with the medicinal liquid but Nico took it from her.

"I'll do that." He said, "And you tell me what these bandages are for and where Leo is."

The young sorceress nodded, "You were stabbed by Pasiphaë's blade, which wasn't just any normal blade." She said, "It was a cursed blade, with inscriptions that foretold the suffering of whoever was stabbed by it. Pasiphaë had been chanting her curse while you were fading on the ground but thankfully, we managed to stop her before it was too late." She tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, eyes blinking tiredly in the sunlight, "Unfortunately, the curse had already begun and we have no idea what it is. I did the best I could, neutralizing it on your shoulder with bandages blessed from the River Styx and written with sigils of protection."

"So, what will happen to me? Will the curse, I don't know, just go away? Or do I have to wear bandages for the rest of my life?" Nico asked, Calypso couldn't help but smile at his last question.

"The bandages are only temporary solutions." She shook her head, "It's either the curse will dissolve or the bandages will lose its protection first, I don't know."

Nico nodded his head, life or death, he's used to that. "And Leo?"

"He's asleep." The goddess said with a shrug, "I had to drag him away from here when he collapsed from exhaustion because I didn't think you'd appreciate waking up to see him draped over you and finding you had a Leo-shaped tan on your stomach."

Nico couldn't help but frown at the thought of someone sleeping over him while he slept, but he was strangely touched by the gesture too, so he wasn't sure what to feel about that. "Thanks, I guess." Calypso offered the jar and he dipped the cloth so as to cover his arms and legs with the weird medicine thing. "I feel better now, though, I'm pretty sure I can shadow-travel us to Spain before tomorrow. Then we can cross the Atlantic Ocean, then Maine and New York."

The goddess pursed her lips as she observed him with her with almond color eyes. "Your body has expelled most of the darkness," She admitted, "But we don't know if shadow-travelling would make the curse worse-"

"It'll be fine." The son of Hades assured her as he finished applying the medicine and gave her back the cloth. He stood up and stretched, wincing slightly as his shoulder burned. "Let's get to travelling while Leo's still asleep. At least that way I won't have to deal with his lame jokes and protests." Because he knew the son of Hephaestus would probably forbid him from shadow-travelling. The seven of the Prophecy all had that similarity of hating when someone over exhausted themselves.

Calypso watched with resignation as the son of Hades headed to get his clothes while she folded the used blanket and followed after him.

 _Why are demigods so stubborn?_  She asked herself.

* * *

When Leo woke up and found himself in Spain, he was one angry camper. He stood up and trudged towards a certain son of Hades sitting under a tree and looking a little pale. Calypso wisely stayed out of the confrontation of the two boys and was mixing another herb medicine for the reckless dark-haired teen.

"Di Angelo, what do you think you're doing?" The son of Hephaestus said as he frowned down at Nico who was blinking sleepily. This time he managed to stay awake after shadow travelling, a great improvement from before.

"Getting us back home sooner." He mumbled, "Give me an hour or something and we'll be in Maine by sundown." He turned to his side, determined to fall asleep.

"Oh, no you don't!" He took out a wench from his pocket and hit Nico on the head.

"Ow!"

"Look, it's great that you're so dedicated to get us back to Camp Half-Blood sooner, hurrah and everything. But seriously? You nearly faded from existence just a few days ago!" He gestured wildly with his hands and even though Leo was nothing like Reyna, his worry reminded him of hers. He couldn't help but smile at that, "So stop being such a pain in the- hey, why are you smiling? Are you mocking me? Did Calypso draw something on my face again?"

"It's nothing, Valdez." Nico said, his face reverting to his usual brooding mask. "Look, I'm fine, okay? See, I'm still awake despite travelling for thousands of miles." He explained, "Besides, do you think Calypso would allow me to travel if I'd disintegrate the moment I did so?"

"Well, no. But still…"

"Then it's fine." He said as he tried to get comfortable under the tree. "You got your needed sleep and I got us to Spain. Now why don't you and your girlfriend go on some date and leave me to nap here?"

Nico had the satisfaction of seeing the tinkerer blush to the roots of his hair before he turned and went to sleep. Pretty soon he was breathing out softly.

Leo huffed, "Ugh, why do all the sons of the Big Three have a hero complex?"

"It's what makes them popular with the girls, I guess." Calypso called back as Leo gagged.

"Oh gods, now I have to pour bleach down my ears."

* * *

_Nico had become an expert in dream travelling solely because using his powers had required a lot of sleep. With his body being incompatible with the amount of power he held, he found himself sleeping most of the time when he was still younger and learning his way around summoning the dead to do his bidding._

_So it really hadn't surprise him how easy it was for him to jump to a certain son of Apollo's dreams without passing by the Hypnos Cabin at all, this time._

_Nico was sitting over the hilltop, overlooking the archery range as sons and daughters of Apollo practiced their hand at the bow. The son of Hades watched with amusement as a certain counselor kept trying to hit a bull's eye but to no avail._

" _Hello, Nico." Came the sleepy voice of Clovis. The dark-haired teen wasn't even surprise that the counselor of the Hypnos Cabin was here, since after all, the children of Hypnos had that habit of getting lost in a few people's dreams._

" _Clovis." He acknowledged._

" _I see you're here again."_

_Nico shrugged, "I honestly wasn't expecting to find myself in Solace's dreams. I thought it was too early for him to be asleep."_

" _He didn't get enough sleep since your last visit." Nico wasn't surprised that he knew about that. "You chose a terrifying way to exit his dreams."_

" _It couldn't be helped, I was injured, I couldn't even control my own dream form." The son of Hades' explained softly, "But I'm glad that he's having a good dream, this time."_

_Clovis yawned and sat beside him, "You can always go up to him you know, or pass by and he'll see you and he wouldn't think that it was really you, that this was just all another dream."_

" _I'm fine here."_

" _Okay," The son of Hypnos said, "I'm glad you're fine now. I could sense your pain in your dreams."_

_Nico didn't answer as he looked at Will, wiping sweat from his brow and taking up the bow one more time. As expected from him, he never gave up. Nico was content in watching him under the sun until he had to wake up again. He hugged his knees to his chest, the wind blowing his bangs to the side. Beside him, he could hear Clovis snoring, he was probably lying on the ground asleep in his own dreams, which was weird now that he thought about it. Do people who dream of themselves sleeping, dream in their dreams?_

_But then Nico was distracted from his train of thoughts when a familiar voice called out to him, "Nico!" The son of Hades looked up to see Will waving and jogging towards him. The son of Hades felt his heart jump in his throat and he couldn't help the smile on his face even as the dream began to blur again._

" _Will." He said just before consciousness dragged him back to reality._

* * *

_Nico had been expecting himself to wake up back in that plaza somewhere in Spain and to have Leo annoy him back to sleep. What he didn't expect was for his first dream to give way to another one._

_When Nico blinked and realized where he was, dread settled in his stomach and he knew he would very much have preferred to have his memories of Tartarus on repeat rather than be here._

" _Oh, come now…" The beautiful woman dressed in dark jeans and a blue-green tank top with a mini-jacket over her perfect figure smiled at him. He was sitting across the table from her in a sunny café, probably somewhere in Paris. "I can't be that bad-looking now, can I?"_

_He doubted that Aphrodite had ever been bad-looking. She looked as perfect as you'd expect her to be. He'd heard about her from Piper, Percy, and even Thalia. She only showed up when you were her child or had an interesting love story under your sleeve._

_The goddess of love must be fond of tragic love stories then._

_Nico watched warily as her multi-colored eyes settled for pale blue and her hair looked like a familiar shade of blond, skin lightly tanned. The facts that she didn't wear any make-up and nothing looked artificial about her, made his wariness go down a level._

" _Nico di Angelo," Even her voice was beautiful, ugh. "Nico the angel, what a beautiful name. If you were an angel, you'd probably be the angel of tears and solitude."_

_A scowl came onto the son of Hades' face. He hadn't cried for a long time now. He crossed his arms, "Why are you here, lady Aphrodite?"_

" _Hm, well you_ know _why I'm here." She hummed and the way her blue eyes brightened made Nico freeze at the familiarity. "Love comes in many forms and it doesn't matter what form it is, I go to it and I observe."_

" _You're as worse as Cupid."_

_She laughed lightly, "Don't be so wary, son of Hades, I won't force you to speak your feelings out loud. I'm just intrigued." She tilted her head and reached out to touch his chest, the part above his heart. He wanted to shrink back, he really didn't like physical contact, especially from possibly demented goddesses. But something kept him in place. She sighed dreamily, "I haven't encountered a love as beautiful and as heartrending as this in a long time. You will definitely be my most favorite story."_

_Those words were what finally gave him the strength to flinch away from her. "Don't." He snapped, "I'm not a demigod you can fool around with. I'm not a_ story _. Love and I aren't compatible. You could ask your son, Cupid."_

_Aphrodite hummed, "True, you're not that lucky in the romance department, probably comes with the whole being son of Hades thing. He was never lucky with women, when he found one worth to keep they either die or turn against him." She shrugged lightly and Nico gritted his teeth._

" _So what?" He tried not to let the anger rule his head but it was very hard. He was never good with confrontations, especially confrontations of love. "Did you come here to tell me that no demigod shall heal my heart too?"_

" _Oh, you heard the conversation between my daughter and Reyna." Aphrodite said thoughtfully and her eyes looked into his and seem to sadden at whatever she saw there. "She is a strong warrior, the daughter of Bellona. But she runs away from her past and it would take a special kind of mortal to break the wall she built around her heart."_

_Nico knew Reyna, heard about her past and saw her pain. She'd lent him her strength and shared his pain, saw him at his worst and hugged him after everything that happened. She accepted him and made him fell a little less broken. He'd like to think that he did the same for her. He knew he couldn't heal her entirely but he thought he could at least have made her feel a little better. Whoever this mortal or god that was destined for her, he hoped he'd be worthy of her. No, he'll make sure he was worthy of her._

_Aphrodite gave him a kind smile, as though she could hear what he just thought, "Now about your question. Honestly, Nico di Angelo, I have no idea about what'll happen with you."_

_The son of Hades froze. "What?"_

" _The gods can't always what'll happen and we can't dictate who belongs with who." She said with an elegant shrug, "Some people aren't meant to be with anyone at all, and yet mortals surprise us by finding someone for them and staying with them for the rest of their lives. Maybe that's why I will like your story so much, son of Hades." She said, "Maybe it's because you'll be the one to forge your own path, you'll be the one to pick your choices, and you'll be the one to make a move."_

_Nico continued to stare at her in confusion and Aphrodite took that chance to hold his cold hands. He flinched because despite hating touch, he didn't seem to mind it at all. The warmth was familiar._

" _You have potential to carve you own happy ending just like the rest of the children of the Big Three." The goddess of beauty said,_   _"But you have to believe first that you deserve to be happy." The tone was soft, almost a whisper, "So much sadness, sorrow, and pain. The goddess of misery, Akhlys told you this and you know it's true. But you bring the pain to yourself. You pushed yourself away."_

You pushed yourself away.  _Will had once told him those exact words. He pulled away as though electrocuted._

" _I had to." Nico defended himself, "If I didn't I'd-"_

" _Get hurt? Be hated? Be feared?" She offered, "Or maybe you wouldn't, maybe you'd have more friends, be happier."_

_He glared at her. "At a great risk."_

_Aphrodite smiled tiredly and looked at him like he was a child to be put up with, "Yes, you'd think that." Then she flipped her hair, "Our depressing conversation is tiring, I think I'll leave it for today, don't you?"_

_Nico blinked in surprise, "What? That's it?" He'd heard the stories of how Aphrodite shows up, gives you some cryptic warning about your love life before it goes to shambles and then vanishes. He reviewed their conversation and so far all he got was that not everyone had someone for them. Was the goddess of love and beauty cryptically telling him that there was no one for him?_

_Plato's story of humans being a combination of male and female before Zeus split them, entered his mind. Nico thought he was going to be sick._

_Aphrodite let out an impatient breath as though in response to whatever it was Nico was thinking, "Oh, son of Hades you are the densest demigod I have ever had to deal with." And then she winked, "But thankfully you're not an idiot. So there's hope for you yet." She said with a tinkling laugh as though she made a joke only she could understand."_

_Just as Nico was contemplating why that line sounded familiar, Aphrodite stood up and straightened her shirt. "Well, that was an enlightening conversation, I wish you luck in the future, son of Hades." She snapped her fingers and Nico looked around as the scene began to blur, "I'll be watching your progress from now on."_

_Those words were the last words he heard before the dream vanished like smoke._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Good. You maybe dense but you're not an idiot." Aphrodite quoted Will a lot while she talked to Nico. Though, I particularly liked this one line of Aphrodite (not a Will quote):
> 
> I haven't encountered a love as beautiful and as heartrending as this in a long time. You will definitely be my most favorite story.
> 
> I think we're all Aphrodites when it comes to our ships.
> 
> Well guys, that's it for today. THANKS FOR YOUR PATIENCE.
> 
> Reviews, kudos, and bookmarks are to die for.
> 
> Oh and pray for us, if you can, thank you.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I'm finally back! Gosh, after a few days of cellular data, a week of no electricity Q_Q FINALLY I UPDATED
> 
> I'm updating a SolAngelo two-shot, no angst (gosh, ain't that a miracle and why do I keep saying 'gosh'? XD Check it out, it's titled FLIP')

**Chapter 5**

_ “Count your age by friends, not years. Count your life by smiles, not tears.”   
― [John Lennon](http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19968.John_Lennon) _

 

When they'd  _finally_  arrived within the borders of Camp Half-Blood, somewhere near Zephynos creek, Leo almost kissed the ground in joy. But of course, he doubted Calypso would want to kiss  _him_  if he kissed the dirt so he settled instead with whooping loudly and scaring a few birds. Thankfully, none of the campers came to check, seeing as it was the middle of the day and they were all off in the arena or volleyball courts going through their schedules with their counselors leading them.

Calypso eyes shone brightly at aspect that Leo was happy but she was nervous as well, because it was the first time in a long time since she'd socialized with people other than wayward heroes and visiting gods. She was also excited with the prospect of meeting Percy again, although not in the romantic sense. Not anymore.

Nico watched the two with a small smile. His dark eyes scanned the forest around them, being drawn towards the end of the creek which was where the cabins were at. He'd missed Camp Half-Blood in the short time he was gone and he wondered if any of the other campers noticed he was missing.

"Oh gods, I can't wait to see Piper and Jason's faces." Leo said excitedly and then he turned a wide grin thankful towards Nico, "Nico-"

The son of Hades shook his head, "You don't have to say anything." He said and when Leo opened his mouth to protest, he added, "But if you insist in thanking me, then I want you to go and apologize to everyone, especially to your cabin mates and Jason and Piper. They were really torn up about your  _death_." He frowned, "And call up Hazel and Frank, they felt guilty since they assumed they 'assisted' you to your death."

Leo blinked and his eyes stung as he swallowed thickly and said, "Sure."

The dark-haired teen smiled tiredly before remembering, "Oh and do me a favor, don't tell anyone you saw me." He murmured, "Especially a certain son of Apollo."

Leo blinked at him in confusion, "What? Don't tell- What are you talking about?"

"The quest to look for you was a complete secret." Nico said as he crossed his arms and leaned against a tree, "And I prefer for it to stay that way."

"Yeah, no, I get that." Leo said, "You didn't tell anyone about looking for me because you didn't want them to be disappointed if it turned out that it wasn't me you felt crashing back into the land of the living." He shook his head, "But see, you  _were_  right and it  _was_  me! So there's no point in hiding anymore! You saved us and dragged us back to Camp, Nics!"

The son of Hades rolled his eyes, "Don't call me Nics." He said and then sighed, "Look, just don't tell  _anyone_  okay? I don't want the spotlight to be stolen from you and I prefer not to have a worried Jason on my back, thanks."

Leo opened his mouth, ready to argue some more but then Calypso took his hand and shook her head. He grumbled a displeased, "Fine."

Nico allowed himself a small smile, "I'll come back from my 'quest', two days after your miraculous return." He explained as he turned, "Truth is, I'll be hiding in my cabin for awhile and eating at the Big House when it's empty." He said as he inhaled and readied himself to transport right inside the Hades' cabin. He looked over his shoulder one last time, "I'll see you later, Valdez."

And with that, he stepped into the shadows.

* * *

Nico could tell the exact moment when everyone realized that Leo was back from the dead, even when he was stuck inside his cabin.

There was a sudden explosion followed by a loud shriek coming from a  _very_  powerful voice (probably Piper, Leo had expressed an interest in surprising her first) and then thunder boomed from above (the sky tended to flash with lightning when the son of Jupiter couldn't hold his emotions in), and the loud shouts and yells that made you think Gaea woke up again and everyone was getting ready for war.

Despite trying to remain in the background for this moment, Nico couldn't help but look through the windows of his cabin. He could see everyone running out of their cabins and seeing what the commotion was about. A crowd of people were carrying two teens towards the center of the cabins and when the Hephaestus bunch saw who it was that everyone was welcoming like a hero- well, Nico wouldn't be shock if the noise could be heard all the way to Camp Jupiter.

The son of Hades couldn't hide a fond smile when he saw Piper crying so much in happiness, her eyes red-rimmed but her mouth forming a wide grin. Beside her, Jason had an arm around his girlfriend and seemed ready to beat the son of Hephaestus up or hug him once everyone finally put him down. His happy and angry face seemed a lot alike at the moment. They'd lost so many friends during the war that Leo's return really meant a lot to the demigods.

Nico slipped away from the windows and headed towards the shrine of Hades in the corner, a little table decorated with bones and jewels. There was a big bowl of water there, jewels on the bottom, lighting up and catching his attention. Nico accepted the Iris message and looked in.

Chiron's kind face and proud smile greeted him,  _"Congratulations on the success of your quest Nico di Angelo, you did well."_

"Thanks, Chiron. But in the end it was Leo and Calypso who saved me." He admitted.

" _You did your part as well, I'm sure."_  He assured him,  _"Now, I presume you're back in your Cabin, hiding from the celebrations?"_

"As always." Nico confirmed with a small smile, "I'll  _officially_  be back at camp two days after Valdez's miraculous return."

" _I'm sure you will."_ Chiron said, playing along.  _"In the meantime, would you like to join me for tea in the Big House? I'm sure the campers would be too busy throwing a party at Fireworks beach to come here."_

Nico felt touched that the trainer of heroes would rather spend time with him rather than go out and celebrate Leo's return with the others. He swallowed back the heavy feeling and nodded, "Sounds like a plan."

* * *

Appearing two days  _after_  Leo supposedly came back from the  _dead_  and hiding out from everyone until then, was hard work. The son of Hades had to be careful and precise when he was shadow travelling form Cabin thirteen to the Big House and vice versa. He had to go and eat his breakfast, lunch, and dinner there, so as to keep away from the other campers. He also had to take his Iris messages in a dark, unrecognizable room because ever since Leo came back, Jason and Hazel had been IM-ing him, nonstop. Every time they called he had to pretend not to hear their news about Leo because he didn't think he'd practiced his 'surprise' look enough yet. Thankfully, there was a mirror in the Big House where he tried to practice coming up with a more than an indifferent expression.

Seymour the leopard head snorted at him every time he'd tried.

On his second dinner, as he was trying to transport himself to the Big House, the son of Hades had accidentally shadow-traveled into the forest near the dining pavilion. Thankfully, he didn't stumble out of the shadows and into the light when he appeared. His dark clothes helped him blend in with the darkness and he had to pause for a minute and catch his breath.

Happy campers passed by the forest, unknowing of his presence and he glanced at them in longing, heading towards their respective table and to their friends, ready to celebrate Leo's return a second night in the row.

The son of Hades even caught sight of a certain son of Apollo, walking casually next to his siblings, hands in his pocket, a lazy smile on his face, and eyes distant. Nico watched him for awhile and he couldn't help but wonder if Will had thought about him after Leo came back or worried about him and wondered when  _he_ would come back. Knowing the protective side the healer had on his patients, he probably did.

Nico stayed for several seconds longer before turning and going deeper into the darkness, disappearing into the shadows.

He never saw Will turn and look at the exact spot he had been in, mere moments before, a curious expression on his face.

* * *

Two days after Leo's return, Nico was standing in the middle of the Big House, having one last check up with Calypso who checked and rechecked the state of his body. The plan was that he'd shadow travel at the foot of Half-Blood hill before trudging up into the borders, where someone would see him and announce his return.

His backpack was ready and he put up with Calypso for a few more seconds before announcing that he was ready to go. Chiron nodded and Calypso gave him a worried look.

"If you're shoulder gives you any trouble at all…" She said firmly, "You come and find me, do you understand?"

The son of Hades gave her a small smile, "Yes, ma'am." He vanished on the spot, reappearing later on the foot of the hill.

Nico allowed himself a breath or two, his shoulder ached and he groaned before trudging up the hill. He paused outside the camp's borders where one of the children of Ares, a kid he talked to now and then and going by the name of Mark, yelled, "A new camper! Guys! There's a new demigod coming here!"

Nico blinked in surprise.  _What? New camper?_

"Where's your satyr?" Mark asked suspiciously at the darkly dressed teen, "And aren't you a little too old to be just claimed? Whose son are you? Ares? Hermes?"

"Mark?" Nico's eyebrows were furrowed as the son of Ares gave him a surprised look, "What are you talking about? It's me, Nico di Angelo, son of Hades."

Before Mark could say anything, however, Clarisse appeared at the edge of the border, weapon ready, since newcomers to camp usually brought monsters with them. When she saw Nico, she blinked in surprise.

"Wha- di Angelo?"

"Hello." The son of Hades murmured as he walked the final steps and finally went through the borders of Camp Half-Blood. "Nice welcome committee, by the way."

The daughter of Ares' sighed as she lightly scuffed her half-brother on the back of his head. "Mark, you're getting as worse as the Stoll brothers with your pranks." Mark grunted but then blinked rapidly at Nico who was eying him suspiciously.

"Oh, Nico, right, sorry." He said, recognition coming to his face, "For a second I didn't know- I mean I didn't recognize you, I guess. Stress probably." He shrugged.

"Okay," Nico accepted coolly before looking at Clarisse, "So, what's for lunch?"

The drakkon slayer raised an eyebrow in his direction before an evil smile crept up her face. Nico stepped back automatically, looking at her with wary eyes.

When in fear, threaten. "I'll have you know that I can summon skeletons and zombies and- What the-! Clarisse! PUT ME DOWN!" Nico yelled as the daughter of Ares picked him up like it was no big deal and threw him over her shoulder.

"Man, di Angelo, you're skin and bones. You're lighter than my sword." She joked as the younger teen struggled and yelled 'let me go!', "Sorry, no can do kiddo, everyone in camp promised Will that we'd drag you into the infirmary the moment we saw you."

The son of Hades stopped struggling for a minute before he started to growl, the sounds muffled by Clarisse's jacket. It sounded suspiciously like 'Solace'.

"Okay guys, we're heading to the infirmary, back to your posts!" Clarissed yelled to her siblings who had gathered at Mark's shout. A few of them laughed at the fact that the son of Hades was easily being detained while Nico tried to shoot glares at them in his upside down position.

* * *

Will was enjoying talking to one of the eight-year-old campers from the Demeter cabin, who had tried the Climbing Wall but fell and sprained her ankle, when Clarisse suddenly came in, a darkly clothed teen thrown over her shoulder.

"Delivery for doctor Solace." She said with a knowing smirk as she threw Nico to the nearest infirmary bed. The son of Hades yelped and bounced on the fluffy mattress before glaring at the daughter of Ares.

"I swear, Clarisse, I'll-"

"Nico!" Dark eyes hesitantly moved from the smirking girl's face towards Will who was looking at him with wide-eyed surprise, relief in his bright blue eyes. Nico tried to ignore the now-becoming familiar feeling of skeletal butterflies being resurrected in his stomach. The son of Apollo walked to his bedside and grabbed his hands, much to his flustered surprise. "Gods, you're in so much trouble, di Angelo!" He glared.

Nico caught Clarisse giving him a knowing smile before making her way outside. He shot her one last scowl for good measure, but he doubted it had the intended effect of scaring her since her smirk just grew as she closed the door behind her. It was probably the obvious blush on his face that dampened the effect. He turned back towards Will who was still holding his hands.

The son of Apollo, however lost his glare in a few seconds and he let out a relieved breath. He was probably just sensing Nico's powers and  _not_  holding his hand for the sole pleasure of holding hands. The son of Hades tried not to be disappointed. "I'd been preparing for the worst but your body isn't filled with darkness like last time." He gestured to the bottles of unicorn draught he'd gotten from the Romans and the prepared nectar and ambrosia squares by the pantry. He turned back and let his fingers be laced with Nico, who gave him a wide-eyed look, the flush growing on his pale face. Will finally smiled, "That's a relief."

"Y-Yeah…" Nico stuttered lightly and he unintentionally tightened his hand around Will's. "Uhm, I…"

But then the two jumped apart when Jason suddenly came in with Piper, slamming the door open. The eight-year-old daughter of Demeter Will had been watching over earlier, rolled her eyes at the bad timing of the son of Jupiter.

"Nico!" He said as he ran up to the son of Hades and gathered him in a bear hug as he choked. Will stepped back, amused, while Piper rolled her eyes slightly. "You're back! This is great! Everyone's alright! Hey, did you know Leo was back?" He said as he let go of the younger teen.

Okay, he can do this. He'd been practicing his surprised look in front of the mirror for two days just for this moment. He took a deep breath and looked at Jason with wide-eyes. "Wha- Valdez? Really? How?"

"He programmed Festus to give him the physician's cure if things ever went wrong!" Jason said with a wide smile, and inwardly Nico sighed in relief and mentally patted himself on the back for good acting. "It's amazing! You should go and greet him! I'm sure he'd be happy to see you and- oh." The demigod paused as though just realizing where they were. Nico was on the bed, inside the  _infirmary_. Quickly Jason's blue eyes darkened, "Are you okay? Did something happen? Are you hurt?" He rounded on Will, "Is he hurt?"

"He's-"

"I'm fine." Nico assured them himself. When Jason shot him a disbelieving look, he said more firmly, " _Really_. Clarisse just dumped me here because  _apparently_ , a certain son of Apollo told everyone to drag me directly to the infirmary when I get back."

"Oh, yeah, we were there." Piper said with a bright smile, but her multi-colored eyes kept drifting between Will and Nico, as though she was trying to solve a complicated puzzle.

"Hey,  _you_  were the one who decided to take up a  _quest_  after just being released from the infirmary." Will said as he crossed his arms. "Even Jason and the rest were worried about you."

Nico felt a guilty sensation in his stomach but he ignored it and huffed. "You know I'm stronger than that. You all  _know_  I'm stronger than that." He said, "You didn't have to worry. See? I'm fi-" He was cut off however when pain suddenly flared on his shoulder. He choked and he _felt_  his whole form flicker. It may not have been visible to the eye but he  _felt_ it.

"Nico?"

Thankfully, no one seemed to notice his bout of weakness so he just shook his head and let out a nervous breath.

"Nothing, I'm just, uh, a little winded from Clarisse carrying me here, that's all." He waved off their worries. "Anyway, we were going to go see Valdez, right?"

At the mention of Leo, Jason perked right back up. "Yeah! And you should meet Calypso too, I don't know how Leo wooed a goddess, but they're not a bad pair. She'd definitely keep him in line." He said as he and Piper headed to the door gesturing for him to follow. "And did you know that Festus is such a wreck? I wonder how he'd managed to get back here with Festus falling apart and…"

Nico nodded along to the still talking son of Jupiter as he jumped off the bed to follow Jason but then Will suddenly placed a warm hand on his shoulder. He jerked away reflexively and turned to see a frown on the healer's face.

"Are you really okay?" He asked and the younger teen felt his mouth go dry as he nodded mutely. Will searched his face before sighing, "Alright, I'll let you go for today but I'm warning you, I'll be keeping a close watch on you, di Angelo."

"Yeah, considered me warned." Nico said with a solemn nod that made the son of Apollo smile.

"Nico! You coming or what?" Jason called from outside the infirmary.

"Yeah!" Nico called back before he turned to Will uncertainly, "Uh, so I'll see you later?"

The son of Apollo gave him one of his charming smiles, "See you."

The Ghost King nodded quickly before running after the son of Jupiter. When he stepped outside, he swore he heard Demeter's daughter ask Will, "So… does that mean you're taken?"

The nervous laugh from Will followed Nico all the way to the Hephaestus' Cabin.

* * *

"Hey Leo, someone finally came back from his quest to see you." Jason knocked on the Hephaestus' cabin's door. The fire-wielder was the only on in the cabin since his siblings were off in the forges, helping Leo make parts to reassemble Festus.

"Oh, yeah? Who?" Leo looked from the blueprints and immediately his sight zoomed in to a certain son of Hades who had his hand raised in greeting and was standing behind Jason and Piper.

"Hi."

Leo paused for awhile before walking up to Nico who gave him a searching look. He knew what the other was thinking,  _Don't tell them._  His eyes seemed to say,  _They don't need to know what happened._

The tinkerer was torn between his gratitude to Nico and the urge to tell his friends about how the son of Hades had come to their aid and to take them back to camp, risking himself in the process, putting himself in the line of attacking monsters and a revenge-filled sorceress.

But Leo knew that when Jason inevitably dragged Nico to greet him, Leo had to pretend that the son of Hades hadn't dragged his and Calypso's butt from China all the way to Camp Half-Blood. He had to pretend that he hadn't spent a week with the son of Hades which had shifted his way of thinking about him, from the loner, emo son of Hades to the  _awesome_ , hero son of Hades who was now his friend. If he didn't pretend, his friends would be suspicious. So he did just what Nico wanted. He pretended.

He pretended because he  _understood_.

He understood that the reason why Nico didn't tell anyone of his impromptu quest even after its success was because he didn't want anyone to worry about him. He never went to get Leo just so he could be treated as a hero when he came back or so he could be admired and praised or earn bragging rights for his heroic deed or get an I-owe-you-one from Leo. He went to look for Leo because he hoped that the son of Hephaestus was alive. He went because he wanted to help ease his sister's and his friends' grief even by just a little. But he went for himself too, so that he could prove something to himself, and Leo didn't begrudge him that.

So instead of opening his big mouth and telling everyone about Nico's heroic efforts and how he deserved to be praised, Leo extended a hand and waited for the dark-haired son of Hades to take it.

"It's nice to see you again, man." He said, his grip tightening in gratitude when Nico shook his hand. "You look good." His mouth said but his eyes relayed his true words,  _Thank you_. He thought,  _Thanks for being there and saving us, we owe you a lot._ He wanted to say.

Nico's lips twitched into a small smile as though he heard his thoughts. "Leo Valdez," He said, eyes twinkling with the private joke between them, "Welcome back to the land of the Living."

To Piper and Jason's surprise, Leo let out a loud laugh at the words.

"Yeah," He said breathlessly, wiping at the tears of mirth at the corner of his eyes. "It's good to be back." He grinned.

* * *

Dinner at the dining pavilion that night was more fun than Nico remembered. He had gone out of his cabin, alone as always and headed to eat some dinner, but just as he sat down on Hades' lone table, a certain son of Hephaestus sat by his right side, Calypso next to him. " 'Sup, Death the Kid?" He was carrying a glass of strawberry juice.

Nico blinked, "Wha-Leo?"

"We're here too." Jason said as he sat in front of the son of Hades and Piper sat on Nico's left, smiling. Percy and Annabeth came in together and seeing their friends all in one place, decided to join them.

"Hey, what did we miss?" Percy asked and his green eyes strayed to a certain son of Hades. Nico shifted uncomfortably but then he realized that the son of Poseidon wasn't looking at him awkwardly, his gaze was soft and he nodded at Nico in acknowledgement. "It's been awhile, Nico."

It were those words and the look Percy gave him that made Nico understand that he could stop running now, that he shouldn't be afraid of his feelings for a certain son of Poseidon anymore. Percy didn't judge his feelings or scorned him for them. It was this realization that made him relax and smile, an invisible weight lifting from his shoulders. "Good to see you, Jackson."

A shadow suddenly blocked the group's view of the bonfire. Unsurprisingly, a certain son of Apollo stood in front of them, arms crossed as he tried to look scolding, "You know you can't  _all_  be children of Hades, right?"

Percy shrugged while Jason and the others just laughed. "What? You gonna tell on us, Solace?" Leo challenged, wiggling his eyebrows.

Will looked at them with a raised eyebrow before his eyes landed on Nico's face. The son of Hades didn't know what sort of expression he had on his face but Will's expression softened into a smile as he shrugged and headed to Nico's side.

To Nico's confusion, Piper immediately jumped away from her seat as Leo made some space, pulling Nico to make room for Will. The son of Apollo sat beside him and gave him a brilliant smile, "I was never a fan of the whole sitting-at-the-table-of-your-common-godly-parent anyway." He said, "I think it's better if people sat with whoever they want to sit with."

"Hear, hear!" Leo said as he raised his glass and nudged at Nico's shoulder, making him accidentally collide with Will who nudged him back, a playful smile on his face. Nico tried not to stare. Piper sat next to Jason who placed an arm around her waist and she gave the son of Hades another curious and slightly knowing look.

"You should really learn to control him." Percy whispered to Calypso who gave him an 'I-know-right' look. Nico heard that the two's reunion was a sight to see. Apparently, Percy came out of his cabin half-dressed, thinking that someone was attacking the camp since everyone was shouting so loudly. What he didn't expect was to see Calypso standing right in front of him.

The Titan's daughter gave the son of Poseidon an unimpressed look before walking forward and kicking him on the shin. Then she hugged Percy while he was too busy groaning at how sharp her heels were and that's how the two made up.

Nico let out a sigh of exasperation though his lips couldn't help but twitch in amusement. He had never had such a noisy and high-spirited dinner like this before. Jason and Leo went to get them some food and to offer the portions to their godly parents before coming back. Majority of the food was pushed towards the son of Hades who blinked in surprise.

"Coach Hedge told us about your increase in appetite." Will said as he piled some mashed potatoes on the other's dish. Nico couldn't help but roll his eyes, was there  _anything_  the coach  _hadn't_  told Will?

"I think it's good news." Piper piped up, "You need to eat more Nico, if you want to grow taller."

The son of Hades sulked, "I just haven't hit my growth spurt yet." He said as he stabbed a fork into an innocent blue pancake (courtesy of Percy, of course). "Just you wait, McLean."

"-mbet shtaller jan Lisho." Percy said through a mouthful of fishcakes. Annabeth rolled her eyes while Will laughed at the display.

"Chew before you talk, Seaweed brain. It's not polite." The daughter of Athena said, "Also, it's disgusting." But from the look on her face she was more endeared than disgusted.

The son of Poseidon grumbled as he chewed thoroughly and cleared his throat before speaking, "I  _said_ , when you hit your growth spurt, you'd probably end up taller than Leo."

The tinkerer groaned, "I think I preferred it better when he had food in his mouth and no one could understand him."

Nico chewed on his pancake thoughtfully as he said, "I  _know_  I'd end up taller than Leo, Jackson. I might even end up taller than Jason." He smirked to which Percy, Leo, and Will  _'oooh'_ -ed at.

The son of Jupiter raised an eyebrow, "Is that a challenge, di Angelo?"

"Greeks beat Romans any day." Piper joked and Jason made a false hurt expression that said,  _I thought you're supposed to be on my side_.

"Okay, okay, enough guys. Why can't we go through dinner without fighting about anything?" Annabeth said, shaking her head in amused exasperation.

"They're boys, what can you do?" Calypso shrugged as she playfully nudged Leo on the ribs. "They  _always_  have to flaunt their dominance."

Leo gave her a flirty smile, "Baby, you know me so well."

Calypso's nose wrinkled, "I don't understand why you keep calling me that. I don't resemble a human infant."

Their table burst into laughter at the statement, even Nico choked on what he was drinking and Will had to thump him on the back, just so he could regain his breath.

All in all, it was the most fun Nico had ever had in a long time. He'd never felt as happy as he did now, surrounded by his friends. The only way this could end up better was if Reyna, Frank, and Hazel were here with them too.

But of course, Nico should have realized that things were too good to be true… because little did he know that soon, things were about to take a turn for the worse.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the typical calm before the storm. I thought Nico deserved to be happy first before I destroyed his life :D
> 
> Gosh, I'm so cruel XD


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like the last part :D I'm actually, pretty proud of this one.
> 
> And I really need to think up a Christmas fic :T So leave kudos and comments :D It makes me happy!

**Chapter 6**

_ "Suddenly, as rare things will, it vanished."  
_ [Elizabeth Barrett Browning](http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/e/elizabeth_barrett_brownin.html)

 

Nico figured that something was terribly wrong when he woke up, gasping and panting for air as he curled into himself clutching at his burning shoulder. The wound, although it should have closed from Calypso's medicine and the ambrosia and nectar he'd taken just in case, was throbbing, making itself known and reminding him of a certain sorceress' unfinished curse. He grunted and sat up, gritting his teeth just as someone knocked on his door.

Nico was ready to ignore the knocking in favor of not letting anyone see him like this and fuss over him when a familiar voice on the other side made him freeze.

"Nico? Hey, it's me, Percy. You awake yet, man?" The voice of his ex-crush made him stare at the door in wide-eyed surprise for a moment. "Um, hello?"

His mind warred inside of him. He knew that the inevitable talk with Percy about his confession was coming and he had sworn to himself he was not gonna run away from it this time but it couldn't have come at a worse timing. He breathed in deeply wincing at the fact that even the small movement made the wound on his shoulder ache.

There was a pause on the other side of the door as Percy spoke, "I guess you're still sleeping so, I'll come back later or something…" The fact that Percy was saying this out loud made Nico believe that Percy knew he wasn't sleeping at all. This, more than anything, gave him the strength to stand up and head to the door, opening it to a certain son of Poseidon's surprise. Sea green eyes blinked at him before Percy raised a hand warily, "Hey?"

His hesitance probably had something to do with Nico's scowl of pain, so the son of Hades tried to make his expression turn into an indifferent one as he said, "Sorry, not really a morning person." Thankfully his voice was thick enough with sleep to be believable. "You need something?"

Percy's face took over a look of determination that would have once made his stomach do flips but now it just made him nervous with what could that possibly mean. "Yeah, can I come in?"

It took every ounce of Nico's will (heh) not to wince as he opened the door and let the swordsman in. He closed the door and watched as Percy sat on an unused wooden chair on one of the desks by the darkened corner. The son of Hades crossed his arms, "So, what's wrong?"

The son of Poseidon gave him a steely stare that automatically made him stiffen in worry.

"I've always thought of you as my little brother." Percy began in a careful but determined tone. "When we brought you into Camp Half-Blood, I thought of you as my responsibility and my family. When you told me to keep Bianca safe, I would have carried the world on my shoulders for all eternity just to do that because I didn't want to disappoint you, not when you looked at me like I could do anything, not when you believed in me. I wanted to protect her and I wanted to protect you and I'm sorry that I failed at that."

Nico stared at him with wide, dark eyes. Whatever he was expecting, it wasn't this. "Percy…"

But the son of Poseidon held up a hand, signaling for him to let him finish. "You've been driven into revenge because of me, you ran away from Camp Half-Blood because I wasn't strong enough to protect what was important to you, and when you betrayed me to your father I didn't have the right to be angry but I was anyway because I didn't know if I could trust you even though it was my fault in the first place. But you tried to make amends and you had to pick up our friendship by yourself. You helped me even after everything I've done, after disappointing you so much, and I would have died if you hadn't told me to take on Achilles' curse, if you hadn't let go of your anger of me and told your Dad to help the other gods."

Percy took in a deep breath, "So what I'm trying to say is…" He hesitated and he said in a softer tone, "Nico… thank you."

The son of Hades' form was loose with surprise now, his hands had fallen to his side somewhere along Percy's speech.

"I don't know if I ever told you that, which pretty much tells you what a horrible person I am, I guess." Percy laughed a bit but it was a self-depreciating sound, not suited for someone as strong as him. "But you know, thank you… for a lot of things. For always being there and helping us even though you had every right not to, for always getting us out of sticky situations, for being friends with me even though I'm a pain sometimes, for leading everyone to the Doors of Death even though it must have hurt to go back there again…"

The green-eyed teen let out a sigh, "And I'm sorry too. For a lot of things, maybe for everything, actually. Because maybe if I had been stronger or braver or maybe even smarter, everything would turn out better and you- you wouldn't feel like you didn't belong or maybe you wouldn't have distanced yourself from us so much."

"It's not your fault." Nico couldn't help but say, "It was my choices which made me unhappy."

Percy gave him a sad smile, green eyes warm, "If I'm not allowed to blame myself then you can't either."

Nico blinked before shaking his head with exasperation and choosing not answer.

The son of Poseidon stood up, dusting his jeans looking down. Nico noticed he was avoiding looking at him now. "And one last thing, about- about what you told me and Annabeth a week back."

The Ghost King froze, this was the moment he had been dreading.

Percy cleared his throat as he straightened before looking his cousin straight in the eyes. "Thanks."

Whatever Nico was expecting, it wasn't that. He gaped at the sea god's son and said, "What?"

Percy scratched the back of his head, looking uncertain. "You know, for liking me- I mean for liking me  _before_." He amended, "Although I don't understand why I'm  _not_  your _type_  because I'm _everybody's type_."

The statement was enough to make Nico snort and that eased something in Percy. The older teen gave him a crooked smile.

"You're a great person, Nico. You're strong and brave and a lot of things I'm not and after everything I've done, you still liked me and I'm grateful for that." Percy said simply, "But I'm sorry too because I know that at some point liking me must have hurt you a lot."

Something thick was stuck in Nico's throat and he just looked down at his feet, not acknowledging but not refuting the statement.

"And I know it may sound stupid and maybe I sound like a jerk but, I'm glad you don't have a crush on me anymore." Percy said, "I don't want you getting hurt because of me. You deserve someone better." And Percy meant it, he could see that.

"And Annabeth doesn't?" Nico joked weakly and Percy's smile turned sad.

"She does. She deserves a lot better than me." And Nico could see that he truly believed that. Percy shrugged, "But she picked me and I thank the gods for that, everyday." The son of Hades' shoulders slumped and Percy reached out uncertainly before firmly placing them on his shoulder (the uninjured one, thankfully). Nico tried not to flinch, "I'm glad you liked me." He said firmly and then he joked, "I don't know  _why_  though, I'm nothing special. But Nico, you deserve an even greater hero than me, someone who wouldn't hurt you and would make you smile for the rest of your life."

The Ghost King nodded but said, "I don't think someone like that exists."

"Jason doesn't think so." Percy said nonchalantly as Nico gave him a surprised look. Was he and the son of Jupiter talking about him behind his back? "I don't think so, Annabeth, Piper, Hazel, Frank, Reyna, and I'm pretty sure everyone at camp doesn't think so. There's someone out there for you."

"But they don't know-"

"It doesn't matter to us who you like." The son of Poseidon said in such a serious tone that Nico was inclined to believe him. "You have a lot more people supporting you, backing you up on this than you think. We're willing to unleash the fury of the gods on anyone who would give you trouble."

Nico swallowed drily, "That's what you say-"

"It's the truth." The son of Poseidon said, "We'll prove it to you if we have to."

From his sheer disbelief and surprise at what Percy was saying to him, the son of Hades could only nod numbly. Percy flashed him another smile and he patted him on his shoulder before letting go. "I'll get going then, I have a bet with Travis about archery."

Nico tried to regain himself and was even able to roll his eyes, "If you bet on yourself, you'll lose."

Percy made a slightly hurt sound as he said defensively, "I'll have you know that I've been practicing!"

The son of Hades made a sarcastic yet serious look on his face, "I'm sure."

Instead of sticking his tongue out or doing something equally childish, the son of the sea god gave him a bright grin that made his heart squeeze a little less, "Thanks, Nico." He said sincerely before making his way out of the door.

As Percy closed the door behind him, the son of Hades realized that in that span of ten minutes or less, he'd forgotten about the pain in his shoulder.

* * *

Nico was aware of the strange looks he was getting as he sat by the camp's docks, swinging his legs as he looked out into the lake. The breeze ruffled his mussed up hair and he tried to ignore several campers' wary looks. He tried to ignore them, used to reactions like that but something seemed off about the way they look at him and he couldn't pinpoint what. They seemed to look at him as though just seeing for the first time. True, he didn't really bathe under the sun much but seriously, reactions like that were a bit too much. It's not like he was a vampire or something.

The son of Hades didn't mind them, closing his eyes and tipping his head up towards the sun. He wasn't used to the warmth against his pale skin but it was a welcomed change to the coldness and shadows. Suddenly, laughter not far made him open one eye and tilt his head. He watched curiously and saw a blushing Will spluttering and waving his hands in the water, blonde hair plastered to his forehead as he glared at one of his sisters, Kayla from the looks of it, laughing at him.

The son of Apollo got to the shore, pouting heavily and Nico couldn't help the twitch of his lips at the other's expression. He could feel a helpless smile stretching across his face.

At that moment, Will turned to him, blue eyes meeting dark ones. Nico's smile widened when Will looked away, his face redder than before as he tried to push away his wet hair from his eyes. He trudged to the shore, trying to squeeze water from his shirt, which clung to his impressive build.

A pretty brunette, about their age, from the Aphrodite cabin rushed forward with a towel and shirt, fluttering her eyelashes at Will flirtatiously. The son of Apollo gave her a grateful smile.

Nico didn't realize he was standing and walking away from the place until he noticed himself getting nearer towards the cabins. He saw a few people flinching away from him and he felt a scowl on his face. He frowned and tried to make his expression indifferent.

He always thought that jealousy was a childish emotion. That, however, did not stop him from being jealous of Annabeth whenever Percy was looking at her (and only at her) or when Percy mentioned her or even thought of her. But then again, he  _was_  a child back then and now, well, he's still technically a child but he's older and had experienced at least one heartbreak, so shouldn't he be  _wiser_?

To be jealous of a girl that only batted her eyes at Will Solace,  _Will Solace_ of all people! His perfect counterpart. Where Nico was always in the dark, Will was  _literally_  the child of the sun and light. You can't find an even more mismatched pair than them! It's pathetic how he couldn't control how the skeletal butterflies in his stomach turned his insides into a mess or the smile on his face or the way his hands shake or his eyes shift when the other got too close…

Of course, thinking as deeply as he did about his predicament, it wasn't really much of a wonder that Nico ended up colliding with somebody. He grunted as he fell to the ground and looked up to see the ex-counselor of the Hephaestus Cabin, Jake Mason, looking down at him.

"I'm really sorry about that." Jake said as he extended a hand as he squinted down the son of Hades who was about to take his hand. Nico ignored his expression and took his hand, being hoisted up easily.

"Thanks, Jake." Jake seemed surprised by the words and Nico looked at him curiously, "Jake?"

"I'm sorry, but do I know you?" Jake asked warily. Dark eyes widened and Nico sharply took back his hand. He narrowed his eyes at the other counselor who looked honestly confused at the moment.

The son of Hades growled and Jake took a step back, "You have  _got_  to be kidding me."

"Wha-"

"Did the Stolls put you up to this?" The son of Hades shook his head in disgust, "Look, I get that some of the campers don't want me here but to go as far as to pretend that you don't know me?" He pushed the stunned son of Hephaestus away, "I didn't think you guys would stoop so low."

Jake stood there, eyes wide as the son of Hades stepped on a patch of shadow and dissolved into darkness. He stood there for several seconds before his face paled as recognition flooded his senses. "Oh gods," He placed a hand on his forehead, looking thoroughly ill, "Oh gods, that was  _Nico_!  _Nico di Angelo_ , son of Hades!"

He groaned and buried the heel of his palms against his eyes. "How could I  _forget_  that?" He told himself,  _"What the hell is happening?_ "

* * *

The pain in his shoulder was blinding. Nico stumbled out of the shadows, slumping down on stone benches. He looked up and realized he was in the camp Amphitheater. Thankfully it was quiet and no one was there, everyone had their classes and camp activities either at the climbing wall, the archery range, or the arena.

The son of Hades gasped as he fell to the ground, clutching at his shoulders. He could feel his eyes burning and he hissed as he curled into himself. The cold stone made his old wound throb and he looked down at his shaking hands, eyes widening when it faded for a few seconds before solidifying.

_What's happening?_ He thought fearfully and he curled into himself even more. He shuddered when he felt the coldness in his blood ad he could  _feel_ himself flickering out of existence before coming back again.

_Yam ouy eb enog rof ytinrete, hsinav, reven ot eb nees, nettogrof neve ni yromem!_

_May you be gone for eternity, never to be seen, forgotten even in memory!_

Nico let out a cry of pain as the burning in his shoulder reached unbearable levels. He let out one shuddering breath before abruptly passing out, the hand on his shoulder falling to the cold concrete.

_Dna enon llahs evas ouy…_

_And none shall save you…_

A few demigods entered the amphitheater, talking amongst themselves about the big Campfire with Camp Jupiter at the end of the month. A few spotted Nico, pointing curiously at the demigod seemingly asleep on the concrete benches. One asked who he was while the others looked blankly at where they were poiting. The others passed by him like they couldn't see him, not anymore, while others eventually forgot he was there.

…  _nda enon llahs erac._

…  _And none shall care._

* * *

Somewhere in San Francisco Bay, California, USA…

Hazel suddenly collapsed to the ground clutching her head and wincing.

"Oh gods, Hazel!" Frank called as he ran up to his girlfriend who had been sparring with one of the members of the Fifth Cohort. The daughter of Pluto had suddenly frozen just as she was about to parry and got hurt on the head by the blunt side of her opponent's blade. "Are you okay?" The praetor asked as he helped her up.

"I'm fine." She insisted as she waved away the gathering of demigods around her. Dakota and Bobby stayed to help. Dakota was the one carrying the first-aid kit. "I think- I feel something's wrong." Her eyebrows furrowed, "It's like- something's happened- I don't-" She sighed and tried to concentrate.

Frank looked worried, pursing his lips, "Did something happen to the others? Percy or Leo again?"

"No, no I think they're fine." The young teen said as she looked up at Frank with her golden eyes, "I think it's Nico."

Frank blinked at her, "Nico?"

"Yeah, I know it's ridiculous, Nico's strong and everyone's keeping an eye out for him ever since the Athena Parthenos incident but-"

"Should I be worried about this Nico?" Frank tried to joke and Hazel blinked.

"What?" Hazel asked, "Why  _wouldn't_ you be worried about my brother?" She asked in a dangerous tone and Frank gulped before realizing what she said,

"What? You have a brother?" The praetor said surprised, "Why haven't I met him yet? Or wait, is it one of those relationship things where I have to wait-"

"FRANK!" Hazel yelled making the other close his mouth. Through the nervous and panicked energy thrumming in her veins she managed to ask in a calm tone, "What are you saying?" Seeing her boyfriend's confused look, she revised, "Why are you acting like you haven't met my brother?"

"Uh," The most powerful Zhang seemed lost for words and he seemed to be weighing the right answer e with the wrong one before finally deciding to be honest instead, "Because I  _haven't_?" He answered weakly.

Hazel looked at him and just kept looking at him until Frank squirmed.

"Uh, Hazel?"

The daughter of Pluto realized that no matter how long she waited for the 'just kidding!' it wouldn't come. First of all, Frank would never kid about something this serious and second this probably had something to do with the bad feeling fluttering in her stomach ever since she finally got a clear Iris message from her brother. The unpleasant feeling in her stomach intensified.

She turned towards Dakota and Bobby who had been watching the two like a tennis match going back and forth, "Bobby, Dakota?" She aid, gaining their attention, "Do you remember Pluto's ambassador? Nico di Angelo, my brother?"

Dakota seemed to think about it while Bobby asked, "Pluto has an ambassador? Your brother must be one powerful demigod to serve as his ambassador."

Hazel looked hopefully at Dakota whose expression was pondering, "Sorry Hazel, I've never seen this brother of yours before."

The teen's heart sank and she gaped at them in horrified found herself standing up to everyone's confusion.

"Hazel?" Frank asked worriedly.

"I need to go see Reyna." She said determinedly, "I think a visit to our sister camp is in order."

Frank exchanged looks with the other members of the Fifth Cohort, "Why?"

Hazel gave them all a stern look, "I need to see my brother."

* * *

Leo was walking around the camp, looking for a certain son of Hades. He knew he had to go find Nico after Jake Mason stumbled to him, all pale-faced and horrified as he gave the new head of the cabin a note in a crumpled sheet of paper. The words were written in thick black ink and a messy scrawl as though Jake had been trying to mark the paper permanently with his words.

_Nico di Angelo, son of Hades_

_Don't forget._

Leo didn't understand why he had a bad feeling in his stomach when he read this. He turned to his brother and tried to ask him what the note meant but Jake looked at him blankly, not knowing what he meant by his words.

"I didn't give you any note." Jake said with an expression that asked if he hit his head while trying to fix Festus again. "Anyway, I need to go help Nyssa with the engine." He said before leaving. Leo stared at his brother's back in confusion before shaking his head and leaving to look for Nico.

And so, this was how he found the son of Hades, sleeping it off in the cold concrete benches of the amphitheater. He sighed and shook his head. Unfortunately, his magic tool belt (which Calypso helped in putting back together again) did not have an automatic heater blanket programmed inside.

He was about to leave and get one but then he glanced at Nico's face and got a mischievous idea. He took out a marker on his tool belt and leaned in to scribble something on the other's face. He knew that if Nico woke up before he could draw a skull on his cheek, he'd be six feet under before he could even apologize.

However, his eyes widened when the tip of the pen went through the son of Hades just as he leaned in.

Leo dropped the pen in surprise and watched as Nico's form flickered before solidifying. He stared at him for a few seconds as though fearing that if he looked away, the son of Hades would vanish.

"Nico!" He called as he reached out to shake him awake but he feared that his hand would go through again, so he settled with yelling the other's name. "NICO!"

The son of Hades was unresponsive and Leo remembered that he probably needed to call someone, maybe Calypso or Will, to help. He also realized that Nico was probably cold and just in cases they couldn't be able to move him like last time, maybe he needed get a blanket too.

Leo looked at Nico and said, "I'll be right back." He seemed to be assuring himself more than the son of Hades. And so, he bent down and picked up the pen, pocketing it before running off in the direction of his cabin, urgency thrumming through his veins.

Behind him, Nico grunted in his unconsciousness, shoulder twitching in pain. His form flickered again as he slept, unknowing.

* * *

Leo stopped in front of his bunk in the Hephaestus cabin, staring at nothing in particular with wide eyes. In his arms was a wad of thick blankets and he looked down in confusion, trying to remember what he was going to do with the thick wool.

"Oh, you were here." Nyssa said when she got inside their cabin and noticed him just standing there. "You okay?"

"Huh?" The tinkerer said as he blinked before laughing, "I'm fine, I just-" He looked down at the blankets. "Hey sis, do you know what I was going to do with this?" He held up the blankets.

Nyssa shrugged before her expression became teasing, "Maybe you were going to wrap your girlfriend around that to remind her of your smokin' hot love."

Leo snorted in laughter, "Your puns suck and you're as bad as the Aphrodite cabin."

His sister shrugged, "Eh." She turned, "Well, anyway, if you're done with your blanket crisis we need your help with fixing some of Festus' melted gear. You know which ones to use and are a better fit for him..."

At the mention of his mechanical dragon, Leo nodded. "Yeah, I'll be right out."

"I'll wait for you outside."

The door closed behind her and Leo looked down at the blankets again. He had that heavy feeling in his stomach telling him he forgot something  _very important._

The son of Hephaestus stared at the blanket for a few more seconds before shrugging. He bent down to arrange it over his bed again. That's when he felt something in his pocket nudging at his leg. He put down the blanket and pulled out a black marker, eying it in suspicion, not remembering even using it. He wondered if this meant that he was turning into an old man already.

He was so distracted with the marker that he didn't notice a piece of paper falling to the ground hwn he pulled the marker out.

"Leo!" He heard Nyssa call outside. He hurriedly placed the pen in his tool belt.

"Coming!" He said as he tripped on the blankets before kicking them away and heading outside. The note lay unseen and forgotten on the ground.

_Nico di Angelo, son of Hades_

_Don't forget._

.

.

.

Don't forget.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The concept of Nico's fading is a mystery. There's a part in Rick's book where Nico's sword-belt sheath thing kept slipping and all the while I was thinking: Uh, how about his belt made of chains or his clothes, how the hell does that work? Technically the sheath-belt is a part of him like his chain belt but it went through him (and his belt stayed around his pants) but his clothes doesn't go through him too? XD His pants and chained belt doesn't slip down his legs? XD hahaha, I know I think up weird things, it happens.
> 
> And with regards to the Percy part, some of you may disagree with me, but I really don't like the fact that some people blame Percy for Nico's suffering. We've been with Perseus for five books, we know he didn't hurt Nico on purpose, he didn't know, heck we didn't know (but then again it was last minute). I'm okay with the funny side little revenges on Percy like Will shooting an arrow at him and Nico getting mad (I find that cute) but the fics where will outright despise Percy? Or Nico does? Rick put that part where Nico says 'Percy is not his type' to show that there was no hard feelings, that Percy liked Annabeth and Nico as okay with that. So yeah, that's my opinion.
> 
> (gosh I might lose readers for that)
> 
> No offense though, that's just me rambling.
> 
> So, Jake Mason, hehehehe.
> 
> Well, thanks and I updated I'll Stay With You too, check it out. Thanks!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who invented 'pacing'? Because this story is turning out longer than I hope -_-
> 
> Oh and I have this headcanon that since Nico is adverse to touch (and he and Will are supposed to be opposites) then Will is the touchy-type, definitely.
> 
> Anyways, happy reading!

**CHAPTER 7**

_"I’m afraid of being forgotten. Because it seems everyone I get close to, ends up forgetting me."_  
 _Anonymous_

A warm weight on his shoulder had Nico's eyes fluttering open as he blinked against the sunlight. He covered his eyes and sat up, the blanket falling around his hips instead. He was suddenly aware of a soft slightly out-of-tune humming beside him. He looked and saw a certain son of Apollo looking up at the sky, eyes closed against the sun.

Nico felt his heart leap to his throat as he clutched at the blanket, watching the sun light up Will's hair like a golden halo. As though feeling someone watching him, Will looked towards Nico, a smile lighting up his face, "I see you're awake, Death Boy."

From what Nico remembered, Will had been drenched in the lake but it seemed like he changed since then. He was wearing a cotton jade-colored shirt and worn dark blue jeans, the usual flip-flops underfoot. His hair still had some droplets in them making it seem luminous in the afternoon sun. The son of Hades was arguing with himself that surely, no one could be this attractive to look at.

"Yeah, I guess I fell asleep." Nico grumbled, rubbing at his eyes. Last he remembered, he passed out from the pain in his shoulder but Will didn't need to know that. He noticed that he was thumbing at the edge of the soft blanket that had been draped over his sleeping form, "You got this for me?"

Light pink dusted Will's cheeks as he nodded, retracting his hand. "I would have carried you back to the Hades cabin but uh- I didn't think you'd appreciate the whole touching-you-thing and the possibility that the whole camp would see us."

The son of Hades tried to fight off his blush as he gave a quick, jerky nod. The skeletal butterflies were fluttering around madly in his stomach at the thought. He cleared his throat, "So, what are you doing here? I thought you were having a dip in the lake?"

Will frowned a bit, "Right, you saw that." His blush darkened, "Kayla pushed me in while I was distracted." Nico was amused to note than the blonde was pouting a bit. "I'll definitely get her back for that, maybe if she wasn't my sister and Apollo's daughter I could have cursed her into speaking limericks for a whole week."

"You're a cabin counselor," Nico pointed out, "You could have her on cleaning duty or something."

"That would be using my position for my own purpose." Will shrugged, "I'm not like that, at least I'd like to think that I'm not."

Nico didn't think it was possible to like someone even more, he shook his head, "Why were you so distracted anyway?"

The flush on the other's face darkened as Will cleared his throat, "Why are you so brooding all the time?" He shot back in defense, trying to shift the spotlight.

"You know, that question doesn't make sense to what I just asked." Nico pointed out in slight annoyance.

"Life doesn't make sense." Will said in retort and Nico wondered if all children of Apollo spoke like they're quoting literature freaks all the time. "You hardly talk about yourself so I'm not obligated to tell you anything."

"I'm not obliging you to say anything." The son of Hades grumbled.

Will gave him a look, "Well then, I'm not obligating you to answer my question too."

"Good."

Will nodded, "Good."

Silence.

"You're such a child." Nico couldn't help but say, Will made a face.

"I'm older than you."

"By a couple of months." Nico said, "But you know, if we compare out birthdays I'd say that I have a good ninety years on you."

"Which makes you more of a child than me since you're supposed to be in an old age crisis but you're arguing with a teenager instead." The son of Apollo said with a smug grin.

Nico raised an eyebrow, "Not bad, Solace."

"That's a compliment coming from you, Ghost King." And the blonde did a little showy bow in his direction. Nico rolled his eyes and Will couldn't help but laugh. The lord of the Underworld's son looked down, stomach flipping at the sound.

Suddenly a touch on the back of his elbow made Nico retract his arm in shock. He looked at Will who was giving him an apologetic look.

"But you know, I was serious about the never talking about yourself thing…" The son of Apollo said and his voice turned from uncertain to determined, "If there's anything troubling you, you can talk to me. About anything, I won't judge or tease- I mean, when I told you about how you never gave other people the chance to be friends with you-" He breathed out, "I want to be friends with you, if you'd let me."

Dark eyes were wide and Nico was so surprised he just gave a sharp nod. The smile on Will's face made his heart trip on itself.

"Though I've considered you as a friend for a long time but it's nice when the feeling is mutual rather than one-sided." The healer hummed, blue eyes soft in the fading daylight. He stretched his arms above his head and Nico looked away, trying to hide the flush on his face. "But I can't exactly force you to tell me what's up, it's a step you have to take yourself, friendship isn't a one-sided thing."

There was silence as the son of Hades chewed on his lower lip while Will waited for him to say something.

"I-" Nico started with great reluctance.

"Okay, then." Will interrupted to his surprise. The blond gave him a look, "Let me start first."

The son of Hades let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

"Even though I'm a son of Apollo and I look good carrying a bow and bunch of arrows around," Nico rolled his eyes and Will couldn't help but shoot him a smile which turned a bit sad at his next sentence, "I'm not really all that good with shooting, or fighting in general. Singing is something I do strictly in the showers and don't even get me started with musical instruments." He looked away wistfully, "I'm just a healer."

Before he knew what he was doing, Nico had reached out and tugged at the other's sleeves. Will turned to the shorter teen in surprise, "Don't sound like that."

"Sound like what?"

"Like… like  _that_." He gestured, "Like being a healer isn't good enough."

Will blinked before laughing, "I never said that."

"You sound like you meant that." Nico grumbled and the son of Apollo gave him a soft look that made him turn away, cheeks red.

"Well, there  _are_  times when I feel like being a healer isn't good enough. Like during the battle in Manhattan and the war with the Romans and Gaea." Will confessed and Nico turned to look at him stunned that the he was telling him this. "I think about when Lee died and when Michael died, I think 'if I was a better shooter or if I could do close combat, maybe I could have saved them or thrown myself in the middle of whatever killed them'."

"But you can save lives too when you're healing." Nico insisted.

"But not all the time and you, more than anyone, know that." The son of Apollo said, "If you could have prevented people from getting hurt then you wouldn't have had to heal them in the first place. Healing is like- it's like the last resort. Your last great attempt at saving someone and it doesn't always work out. Sometimes the injury is too grave or you don't have enough power or something else goes wrong. I'm a healer but I can't really call myself a good one because these hands…" He closed his hands into fists before opening them again, "They've lost lives too. And no matter how long I hum a hymn of healing or pray to my dad, I just can't bring them back."

There was silence as Will's words sunk in. The only thing Nico could think of saying was, "I didn't know you felt like that."

The blond gave him a humorless laugh, "Yeah, well, you just don't go around telling people stuff like that. It's private stuff."

"But you told me."

Will nodded, "You're my friend and I know you'd listen."

The son of Hades opened his mouth and closed it again. He watched Will look back down at his hands and in a bold move he never thought he'd ever do in a  _hundred years_ , he leaned to the side and placed his pale, cold hands over warm ones. Electricity traveled under his skin and it was easy to forget the burning of his shoulder. Blue eyes snapped to his in surprise.

"You have fought in your own way too." Nico said in a quiet tone, "It might not be with a bow or with a sword but you fought in that war and saved more people than anyone who had a sword ever could. When you fight with a weapon you hurt someone and get hurt, when you heal, you save someone and keep saving more. Not many can do that. Anyone can pick up a dagger and stab or get stabbed, but not everyone can stay away from a fight and heal and save as many as they could."

Will blinked and very carefully, as though afraid Nico would pull away, he closed his hands around cold ones. The son of Hades fought to get the blush off his face and squeezed back, trying for reassuring and praying to someone out there that his hands weren't trembling.

"You may not be good with a bow or with singing or fighting in general." Nico continued, eyebrows scrunched in concentration, "But for me you're good at what matters. And that's protecting other people's lives."

Will blinked at him for several seconds and Nico started to worry that maybe he'd said to wrong thing or was too forward (because gods, who'd want to hold a son of Hades' hand and listen to him talk about being okay at not fighting?) but then the son of Apollo leaned forward and touched their foreheads together, eyes closed, blonde hair mixing with dark locks. He said in the sincerest tone Nico had ever heard, "Thank you."

Nico tensed, not knowing what to do in this situation but instead of pulling away and changing their conversation, Will stayed where he was, holding his hands face set in a content expression and even though his heart was still pounding loudly against his ribs, Nico relaxed and closed his eyes too, enjoying the peaceful moment.

When this moment would be over, Nico decided that he'd start this friendship by telling Will about Jules-Albert and then his sister and if he was feeling a little brave, maybe even about Tartarus.

Because he didn't want their friendship to be one-sided too.

And maybe if he was a little honest, he'd even admit that he didn't want them to just stop at being friends.

Maybe, for the first time in ninety or so years, he wouldn't be scared and hope for something more.

* * *

Calypso got back from her talks with the dryads feeling satisfied. In her arms were rare herbs her new friends had given her for her attempts of mixing medicinal herbs for the infirmary. Chiron had approved of her sudden interest in medicine-making, the Apollo Cabin were thrilled in having a sorceress in their team. She met Will Solace for the first time during the two days before Nico 'arrived'. He was pleasant and easy-going but often his gaze was wistful as though his mind was faraway. Calypso understood why when he saw Will's expression when Nico came back. The son of the sun god had stopped with the faraway looks when Nico had arrived.

She'd never thought that Nico would go for someone that was his opposite him in every way, but when the two sat together during camp, she could see how they perfectly balanced each other out. She wanted to voice her support out loud, but from the clearly unknowing looks on Jason and Percy's faces and Annabeth and Piper's contemplating ones, Nico hadn't really told anyone about liking Will.

Calypso wondered if Nico was thinking useless thoughts such as not feeling like he deserved Will or something equally stupid. Leo had told her about how romantic movies were always like that and she couldn't get why anyone would want to watch shows like that.

Speaking of Leo, the son of Hephaestus came out of the forest, face and hands greased with motor oil and face thoughtful as he muttered computations under his breath. The sorceress couldn't help but smile at his look of concentration and walked up to him to give her hero a kiss.

This startled Leo enough into blushing, the tips of his ears turning red as he cleared his throat and tried to act cool, "Hey babe, missed me?"

Calypso's nose crinkled, "I still don't understand why you insist in calling me an infant."

Leo barked out a laugh, "It's- oh never mind." He shook his head, "So, you got the herbs you needed?"

The goddess nodded, showing him the different herbs before putting it aside dusting her hands as she looked over them, "And you? Did you find him?" She had caught Leo looking for Nico earlier after the weird Jake Mason incident. He'd, of course, told her about it and something about it didn't sit right with her. Especially the paper with Nico's name on it and two words made her feel wary:  _Don't forget._

Leo looked at her strangely, "Festus? Uh, he's still in the forest if that's what you mean. I just came from there after putting together his interior gears with Nyssa and my bros."

"I'm not talking about Festus." Calypso said with a frown as she looked around, the sense of unease inside her was growing. Something felt different about the camp, something changed but she didn't know what.

"Oh, then what do you mean by if I found 'him'? You mean Jake? Or Percy? Jason? Should I be jealous?" He asked worriedly. Calypso would have rolled her if she wasn't so worried.

Instead she got right to the point, "Leo, where's Nico?" She cornered him at the confused look on his face she added, "Where is the child of Hades?"

Leo looked at her, eyebrows furrowed, "Child of- oh! You mean Pluto's kid right? Hazel? Wait, how do you know about Hazel?" He gulped nervously. The goddess shot him a suspicious and exasperated look.

"I meant  _son_  of Hades. The one who helped us get here,: The goddess tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, "Where is he? I have a bad feeling…" She mumbled.

This got Leo's attention as he wiped his hands on his grease-stained jeans, "Sunshine, you alright?" He asked tilting his head and tapping his chin thoughtfully.

"Of course I'm alright, it's the son of Hades who-"

But the tinkerer was shaking his head, "There  _is_  no son of Hades here." Calypso blinked in surprise.

"Leo," Calypso's tone was slightly panicked now and wary as she stepped closer, grabbing his hand. "If there is no son of Hades, then who stays in  _that cabin_?" She gestured to the dark looming cabin of Hades not far. Leo followed her gaze and shrugged.

"No one, it's just an honorary-"

"No." This time the goddess grabbed his face and looked him square in the eye. He could feel the warmth in her palm seeping into his skin, doubling his heartbeat, the scent of cinnamon and spring flowers made his face warm. "Leo, concentrate." She whispered, "Who stays in that cabin? Who saved us and helped get us back to you friends?"

The fire wielder's face crumpled in confusion, "I don't-" But then a memory replaced Calypso's face and he reached up, gripping her wrist in surprise.

" _Nico-"_

 _A lone soldier, shoulders lighter than he's last seen him, a soft expression on his face which made him look younger than he'd last seen,_ " _You don't have to say anything." Nico said, "But if you insist in thanking me, then I want you to go and apologize to everyone, especially to your cabin mates and Jason and Piper. They were really torn up about your death." He frowned, "And call up Hazel and Frank, they felt guilty since they assumed they 'assisted' you to your death."_

_Leo blinked and his eyes stung as he swallowed thickly and said, "Sure."_

_The teen smiled tiredly before remembering, "Oh and do me a favor, don't tell anyone you saw me." He murmured, "Especially a certain son of Apollo."_

Leo gasped, eyes blinking in surprise as he looked at the sad expression on Calypso's face. "Nico…" He breathed out as she nodded, "What's- gods,  _what's happening_? Why can't- why didn't I remember Nico?"

Calypso's eyes hardened as she said, "Pasiphaë."

The son of Hephaestus looked pale as he nodded, reading her mind, "We have to find him." He said.

* * *

Jason should have known that the peace wouldn't last that long but still he'd have hoped that after the whole Kronos thing and then the Gaea thing, maybe the universe would finally decide to give them a break.

Haha, of course it wouldn't.

" _Jason! JASON!"_ The son of Jupiter jumped in surprise, turning around abruptly at the sound of his name. He came face-to-face with the worried faces of Reyna and Hazel through an Iris Message projected by Zephynos' creek.

"Reyna, Hazel! Guys it's been a long time!" He said with a smile, leaning down to level their eyes. But then his smile dropped at the look on their faces, "What's wrong?"

" _It's Nico._ " Hazel said as Reyna frowned beside her, " _We think something's happened._ "

As the two explained their story, Jason's expression grew more and more stony and more and more alarmed.

"They've forgotten him?" Jason repeated in disbelief, "But how?" He asked, "Do you think a god is doing this to Camp Jupiter or-?"

" _Maybe, but that's not the question that we're supposed to be asking._ " Reyna said as she crossed her arms, " _The question is:_ Is it only happening in Camp Jupiter _?_ "

The blonde's heart jumped to his throat, "You don't think that people here are forgetting him too, do you?" He felt sick. After everything Nico's been through and when they finally had peace and he decided to stay, why is this suddenly happening too?

" _We don't know._ " Hazel shook her head worriedly. " _I'm going to head there as soon as I can. Until then I need you guys to keep an eye out on Nico. I'm bringing Frank with me, maybe meeting my brother face-to-face would jog his memory._ "

The ex-praetor ran a tired hand down his face, "Okay, I- I'll see what I can do. Gods, thanks for telling us this but if everyone there's forgotten him then how come you guys can remember?"

" _We are not certain of that either._ " Reyna said, " _What's important now is that we find Nico, maybe he knows something about this._ "

" _He was on a quest just a few days ago, right? Maybe he angered some goddess or god or something._ " Hazel said, her face looking as queasy as Jason felt. She let out a breath, " _The point is, whatever this is, we can't let it get to us too. Tell Chiron, ask around Camp, if everyone there has forgotten about him too-_ " She chewed at her bottom lip, " _Gather the Seven, I'm sure they wouldn't forget Nico. Especially Percy and Annabeth, they've been with him longest, maybe they know what's happening._ "

Jason nodded quickly, "I understand."

" _Ask Piper to help too, maybe she can help everyone remember with her charmspeak or Leo can build a machine to help or-_ " But then Reyna cut off the daughter of Pluto with a hand on her shoulder. Hazel closed her mouth.

" _Jason, just find Nico as quick as you can. We tried to Iris Message him but the call wouldn't go through._ " Reyna said, her dark eyes worried.

" _It's like what happened with Percy before, when he tried to contact Annabeth through Iris Message while his mind was still wiped by Hera. Fleecy told him, 'It's like you're dialing somebody, but you've forgotten the number.'"_  Hazel explained weakly, " _I think the same's happening with us._ "

"Don't worry." Jason tried to soother her, "Everything will be fine, we just saw Nico last night, I'm sure he's here somewhere. Will wouldn't let him leave so soon after his quest."

" _Will?_ "

"He's a son of Apollo. I'll tell you when you get here." Jason promised. "Anyway, I have to go and ask around now, get Leo and Percy to help. You travel safely, okay?"

Hazel nodded, her eyes looking tearful even through the Iris Message. " _Thank you and if you find out anything, contact us._ "

"Got it." Jason nodded at the praetor with respect as Reyna nodded back at him, "See you guys later."

The call cut off and Jason was running as fast as he could out of the forest. He had been asking tree nymphs for advice about the shrine he was going to build to the nature gods and goddesses but that can wait, right now, he had to find Nico and the others.

* * *

Percy was at the stables calming the skittish horses when Piper walked by, a confused expression on her face and a paper bag in hand. He patted Blackjack on the muzzle before turning to the daughter of Aphrodite, a smile on his face, "Hey Piper, you come to help me out?" He called out.

The younger teen blinked and looked at Percy, "Percy, oh, yeah sure." She said as she changed direction and headed towards him. "What's wrong?"

"Hm?" He said as he looked at the pegasi who were tottering and neighing. None of their horse speak makes sense to him aside from the occasional nervous mumbling. "Oh, well, they're all nervous for some reason. Chiron sent me here to see what's up but even they don't know. Blackjack just says that he feels like something big is going to happen." He shrugged, "I don't know what they're talking about and neither do they."

"Okay, what do you want me to do about it?"

"Well," The son of Poseidon scratched his cheek sheepishly, "I remember the singing you did for those snake people and I thought you could, I mean, if it's okay, help me out by humming a tune to calm them down? Blackjack and the other horses just recovered from their injuries, I don't want them flying off all of a sudden."

"Sure, I'll be glad to help." Piper said as she began humming a soothing lullaby. Her charmspeak was so powerful that a few horses dropped to the ground snoring. Even Percy had a bit of trouble keeping his eyes open.

"Thanks." The son of the sea god said with a yawn when most of the pegasi were asleep, a few were still awake, but calmer.

Piper chuckled lightly, "No problem. Sorry for getting you sleepy."

"Nah," Percy batted away her apology and then he turned curious green eyes to the bag in her hand. "So, what's in the bag?"

At the mention of a bag, Piper looked at what she was holding in surprise, "Oh, right, I forgot about that." She opened the bag and held out a dark shirt, "Honestly? I don't know either, I just-" She had that thoughtful look on her face. Her nose wrinkled and her multi-colored eyes flashed, "I think I got this for someone…? Someone whose wardrobe is definitely limited but I don't-" She said in a lost tone trying to remember.

"Maybe you were going to give it to Nico." Percy said helpfully, "I mean, he's got a limited number of clothes since he likes getting them ripped apart whenever he goes fight monsters plus he likes wearing dark clothing so he won't really object to wearing that."

Piper's expression brightened, "That's right! Nico!" She said with a smile before it dropped from her face. She looked at the son of Poseidon in confusion, "Wait, who's NIco?"

Percy stared at her with incredulous eyes.

"Is he one of the Hermes' kids? The sort of emo one? I didn't think I'd be close enough to offer him some new clothes." The daughter of Aphrodite hummed thoughtfully.

"What? What are you talking about Piper?" Percy asked, shaking his head in disbelief, "I meant  _Nico di Angelo_ , you know, the son of Hades who summons skeletons and zombies for fun and looks like a goth?"

"Hades has a son?" Piper asked surprised, "Hazel has a brother?"

"Of course she has a brother! Nico was the one who got Hazel out of Asphodel remember?"

The younger teen's expression became confused and pained at the same time, "I don't-"

"There you are!" Jason ran up to them, panting. He paused and looked at Percy's disbelieving expression and Piper's lost one. "What's wrong?" He asked warily, "Did something happen?"

Percy opened his mouth, "Piper-"

"Jason," The daughter of Aphrodite said as she crossed her arms. The son of Jupiter gulped, wondering if he's in trouble. "Do you know about this Nico guy, the son of Hades? Did you know Hazel had a brother? When were you going to tell me about him?"

Jason's face paled as Percy gaped at the daughter of Aphrodite. She gave them both a confused look, "What?"

"This is bad." Jason said running a trembling hand down his face.

"Please tell me you know Nico." Percy said to the blond, scared that maybe Piper wasn't the only one who lost her memories. "Please tell me she's just playing a prank or-"

"I know Nico." Jason sighed and the son of Poseidon let out a sigh of relief, "But I'm afraid this isn't a prank." He said seriously and Percy froze.

"Gods," The oldest demigod ran a hand through his windblown hair, "We just defeated Gaea and now  _this_? What's happening, Grace?"

"I'll explain later." Jason said as he grabbed his confused girlfriend's hand. "Right now, I want you to go find Annabeth and the others. Meet me at Hades' Cabin."

"I usually don't like taking orders but I can see this is serious." Percy said as he turned to direction of Fireworks Beach where he was supposed to meet his girlfriend. "I'll see you." He said before running off."

"Jason?" Piper said as she tried to keep up with her boyfriend, holding the bag to her chest. "What's wrong? What's happening?"

The son of Jupiter gave her a worried look, "It's something to do with Nico."

"Who's Nico?"

"A son of Hades, a hero." The blond said. He added firmly, "A person we should never forget."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here you go guys! I wanted some SolAngelo fluff and it reflected in the first part of the story. Oops my hands slipped, hehehe. Actually they were supposed to be fighting but I stopped and I was like "this is stupid and it doesn't feel right and it's forced" so- DELETE! DELETE! And that scene came out instead (gods know why).
> 
> Also, I remember someone asked me if I have a tumblr in the reviews or was it on my other account? Anyway, yes, yes I have.
> 
> Good luck finding it XDD Just kidding, just message me or drop a review or something.
> 
> So, right, my I'll Stay With You and I are currently fighting. It refuses to turn out beautiful so I'm writing out and rewriting scenes. Like the chapter three had three versions and chapter four seems like it'll be an annoying and picky one and want a lot of versions.
> 
> Also I'm in the mood for fluff not angst o_o A miracle, I know. Look around my tumblr and my fluff number two might suddenly pop out (number one was a huge success, haha it was the one where SolAngelo was all huggy-huggy and stuff and Will was Nico's personal heater).
> 
> So, I guess that's it. I have a lot of things to do, requests here and there. My other fanfic accounts are screaming at me, especially the other one (FoD, urgh) -_-
> 
> Thank you and leave comments or kudos. Sorry for the long rant and advance happy new year!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh wow, well it's been awhile guys. Sorry this took longer than I expected, if you have anyone to thank for in the production of this chapter, that would be my sister who bribed me to write this next chapter with my favorite popcorn. I needed that popcorn like air. Apparently, all it takes for me to get my butt into gear is food.
> 
> Also, friends in the SolAngelo fandom, I have but few (well I hope they're my friends o_o I don't want to assume)

**CHAPTER 8**

_"One of the worst things, isn't being unloved, it's being_ forgotten _."  
Unknown_

Something shifted between Will and Nico after their conversation.

Having Will open up to him about his insecurities, his fears as a medic despite being the best in camp had unwound a coiled emotion in Nico's heart, and little by little, the son of Hades found himself opening up too.

Some stories he told were things that had already gotten around camp. The things he did while he was away were things Percy had already explained to the cabin counselors which had immediately gotten around camp. His travelling between Camp Jupiter and Camp Half-Blood and being kidnapped and stuck in the bronze jar was already recounted by Jason and the others. He knew that Will probably knew about all of this already, but he appreciated the kind, blue eyes looking at him attentively and the tight grip the other teen hand on his hand.

Nico was never a fan of touching (or of people actually, preferring to hang out with the dead), he shied away from it, or glared at those whoever dared come near his space. Not that he didn't like it or anything, he was just tired of people flinching when they touched him (accidentally or not) and feel his cold skin or to see their fear whenever they got too close.

After all, it's so much easier to say you're anti-social, or claim that you don't like people, or pretend that you don't care anymore, than to admit how lonely and damaged you _truly_ feel.

But Will was different. Nico flinched and wanted to pull away whenever Will reached out just as he did with everyone else. But the thing about Solace was that _he wouldn't let him._ Usually when Nico demanded someone to 'keep away from him' or 'not to touch him', everyone immediately did so. But Will? He ignored Nico's protests, as though he could look into his dark eyes and see that his deflection and his walls were nothing but obstacles that hid what he actually felt. He reached out and didn't let go because he knew that when Nico hissed or tried to pull away, he was only doing so half-heartedly and that made him grip tighter instead.

It was this and the fact that Will had been honest with him and treated him as though he valued whatever Nico had to say, that finally made him open up a little too. Will had given something to him, more than an object, the son of Apollo gave him something he can never take back: a part of himself he kept hidden from others. Nico felt that it needed to be an even trade. If Will could trust him with his secrets and insecurities knowing he wouldn't judge, then he had faith that Will could offer the same comfort.

He told Will his point of view of what happened. How he'd thought he was doing the right thing, how he only chased Bianca because she was the only family he had and even though things had gotten better with his Father, he still tried to get her out of Elysium when Thanatos vanished, but saved Hazel instead. He told Will about how he felt being trapped in the jar, not expecting anyone to come and save him and being surprised when they did.

He hadn't said everything, hadn't even made mention of Tartarus or his trip with Reyna and Coach Hedge or how he faced Cupid and how Jason found out about his crush for Percy Jackson. He opened his mouth and nothing came out but a frustrated growl at his own weakness, his inability to share anything more.

Will knew there was more to the story but he didn't push, "It's okay. If you have anything else to tell me, you can find me any time." And Nico was surprised to find that the blond teen was still holding on to his hand. He turned wide, dark eyes at his companion. "Anyway, it's getting late, and we've been walking around for hours. Kayla and the others are probably looking for me."

Nico looked around, surprised to see that the sky had darkened, "Sorry." He said quickly, "I didn't think it was so late."

"I lost track of time too." Will said as he pulled at Nico. They headed towards the direction of the cabins, Nico staring at their connected hands. When people began to appear, he tried to pull away and Will let him go without question, oblivious to the blush on the shorter boy's cheeks. Another child of Apollo seemed to notice Will and waved him over.

"Uhm, I'll go ahead to the dining pavilion then." Nico said, turning away but then Will grabbed him by the arm, making him turn in surprise.

"I-" Will took in an unnecessary breath, "If you're- if you're not that busy, we can talk more tomorrow?" The blond scratched at his cheek absentmindedly, "If you want to, that is." He offered as Nico blinked.

"Yeah." Nico breathed out in surprise and a small smile lit up on his face, "That'd be great, Solace."

A bright grin made its way onto Will's face as he said, "Great! I'll be at the infirmary then. See you, Nico." He said before turning to run to his brother who was waiting for him.

The son of Hades nodded numbly even though Will had already left, unable to push out any more words. He turned to leave, his heart was pounding against his ribs and his chest felt lighter than before. Finally, things were starting to look up for him. Maybe, maybe this time, everything would go right for him.

But just as the son of Hades thought that, a sharp pain went through his shoulder. His steps faltered and he fell to a kneel, his knees making painful contact with the ground. Around him, everyone kept walking on, as though he was invisible in their eyes and Nico blinked through the pain, astonished and hurt, because surely, his fellow half-blood were not _that_ cruel.

Dark eyes blinked and to his relief, Nico saw Katie heading his way.

"Ka-" But he choked, eyes wide in horror when Katie passed right _through_ him as though he wasn't even there. The dark-haired teen fell to the ground, shivering as his shoulder burned in agony. He didn't know what was happening, he didn't know _why_ it was happening, but fear clawed at his chest as he tried to choke out sounds for help.

He was used to fighting monsters and half-bloods, even the occasional ghosts and ghouls and zombies. They'd either fall from his power or from his sword but _this_ \- this he had no idea how to fight, _this_ he had no idea to survive. And he felt fear, because how can he fight something that it's inside of him, something he can't see and he can't grasp?

His cold hand grasped nothing but air and in his heart, Nico wished he had never let go of Will's hand.

Just as his consciousness was fading however, panicked voices pierced the air. In the back of his mind, the son of Hades registered the familiar panicked tones of both Leo and Calypso. Somehow, their familiar tones soothed something inside him and his shivering eventually stopped, eyes drooping in exhaustion.

There was the sound of someone skidding to a stop next to him and Leo's voice, "It's okay Nico, it's gonna be alright, okay? Calypso and I will take care of you, we'll figure this out."

And Nico couldn't even find it in himself to nod as his consciousness slipped from his grasp.

* * *

When Jason heard about a new face being taken to the infirmary, he was confused. Had there been a new camper admitted into the camp without anyone's knowledge? Had he just arrived and was injured? He wondered which god or goddess the new kid was from and he'd turned to ask the gossipers, Piper's siblings, about this.

"Uhm, we don't know. We really didn't even notice him until Leo and his girlfriend were running up to him." Lacy admitted with a shrug, "I mean, he was right behind us and we didn't even notice him fall down or anything."

"No one knew he was even there." Mitchell said guiltily, "It's just like he popped out of nowhere."

"That's weird, I mean if there's a new arrival, usually the Ares' kids would sound the horn or something." Piper said, "Do you guys at least know his name?"

"Uh, yeah it was Nico something-"

Jason stilled, face paling. He turned and immediately ran to the direction of the infirmary.

"Jason?" Piper called out, surprised before she gave a hasty farewell to her siblings. She ran after her boyfriend, "Jason, wait!"

As the son of Zeus was running, he accidentally bumped to a certain cousin who barely managed to stop himself from falling the ground. "What in Tartarus?" Percy said as he grabbed Jason and stopped him from falling to the ground too, "Grace, what's wrong?" He asked seriously when he saw the other's face.

"Percy." The younger teen said as he was steadied. At the older teen's back, he saw Annabeth pausing, a worried look in her eyes. "It's worse than we thought."

"What?" The son of Poseidon blinked in confusion, a worried frown on his face.

"It's not just Piper." Jason emphasized, "I think everyone's forgotten Nico over here too."

"What do you mean by over here too?" Annabeth stepped in, "Did something happen in Camp Jupiter?" She cornered the other.

"I don't know." The blond admitted, "Look, I don't understand what's happening too, okay? Just that Reyna and Hazel sent me an Iris Message earlier and apparently Frank and everyone in Camp Jupiter, except them had forgotten about Nico. I tried looking for him and I ran into Percy and Piper."

"Piper and I were talking about the clothes she was carrying around and then we got into a conversation about Nico." Percy interrupted, "And like I told you, Annabeth, Piper didn't _know_ who Nico _was_."

"I'm _right_ _here_ , you know!" Piper said in frustration, looking at the three with confusion. "And who is this _Nico_ you guys keep talking about?" Jason looked at her surprised.

"I thought you were going to explain everything to her?" Percy told his cousin.

"I did!"

"She must have forgotten again," Annabeth said seriously, "I don't know what's happening but it's really serious. We should look for Leo and ask if he remembers Nico, then we can go to Chiron for counsel."

"There is no need." A voice said and the four of them spun around to see a tired Calypso headed their way.

"Calypso!"

"Leo and I remember Nico. But like Piper, Leo forgot Nico too. I had to use my powers as a sorceress to bring his memories back." The goddess said tiredly.

"You know what's happening?" Annabeth asked. "Do you know what caused this?"

"Yes, it's a long story, but we need to head to Hades' cabin, first. Leo is waiting for us there." She said turning to head there.

"You brought Leo's memories of Nico back?" Jason asked as he grabbed Piper, who was still confused but deciding to keep quiet, to follow after her. "Can you do the same with Piper?"

"Later, when we get to the child of Hades' cabin." Calypso said soothingly, "I've exhausted my powers in helping Nico from fading."

"What?" Percy interrupted in surprise and great worry, "Nico's fading?" He asked, " _Why?_ "

"This happened before," Jason said, remembering Reyna's stories and Will's questions when he'd confined Nico for three days in the infirmary. "When he used too much of his power."

"Is it connected to how everyone's losing their memories about him?" Annabeth asked, suspiciously.

"In a way it is." Calypso confirmed as she gave them a grave look, "That's why we have to hurry."

No one questioned her after her serious pronouncement.

* * *

When Hazel and Frank tumbled into the Hades cabin after a very heart-stopping and life threatening ride with the Three Fates' cab, they were met with five very serious faces and once confused one.

"I came as fast as I could." Hazel said, pushing her way inside. "Where's Nico?" She asked, immediately, Percy let out a relieved sigh and gestured to one of the Hades' cabin's beds. She rushed to her brother's bed side, "Nico!"

The daughter of Pluto kneeled by his bed side and reached out to take her brother's hand but then gasped when her fingers went through. She recoiled, falling back to the floor.

"Hazel!" Frank immediately went to her to help her up. "You alright?"

But the Roman shook him off, facing the other occupants of the room, "What's going on? What's happening?"

"I guess, we should start explaining now that Hazel is here." Leo said, rubbing at the back of his neck tiredly. He let out a sigh, "Here it goes…"

Calypso and Leo took turns explaining about their arrival into the living world, after escaping Ogygia. They told everyone of how they landed in China and how Nico came to their rescue, offering tor shadow-travel them and a damaged Festus back to camp. Their faces turned serious when they talked about their encounter with Pasiphae. Hazel paled and her expression turned stony as they told them about the curse and Nico being stabbed and nearly fading after their encounter. Afterwards, when he was better, the son of Hades took them back to Camp and everything seemed fine.

"Until, earlier," Leo said, running a hand down his face. "I remember one of my brother's, Jake, coming to me and he looked spook. He gave me a piece of paper that had Nico's name on it and to 'not forget him'. When I asked him what it meant, his expression changed and he looked at me like he didn't understand what I was saying. So I got worried and tried to look for him and I found him at the amphitheater. He looked cold so I went to get him some blankets and then- and then-"

"And then he forgot Nico." Calypso said, "Thankfully, I sensed something wrong and asked him about the child of Hades. I was able to bring back his memories of him before it was fully erased."

"We went looking for him immediately." Leo said, "And we found him collapsed on the ground and _no one could even see him_. We tried to bring him to the infirmary but-"

"-Everyone kept forgetting he was there. And the head medic of the Apollo cabin, Will Solace, was personally tending someone at Nyx's cabin." Calypso said, "And since no one could help, we decided to bring him here, so that I could treat him myself."

Everyone became silent.

Hazel was the first one to break it, deciding to tell their side of the story. "I came here because I had a strong sense that something was wrong." She said, "That wrong feeling got even stronger when Frank started asking me who Nico was. I went to Reyna and we asked everyone who has ever dealt or even see Nico about him and no one knew what we were talking about. I thought I was losing my mind." She said, her tone trembling. Frank looked unsure and he placed a comforting hand on his girlfriend's shoulder despite his confusion.

"Wait," Piper said, her voice taking on a weary and frustrated tone. "Who is Nico?" Jason held her hand in worry.

"I don't understand," Jason mumbled as he turned blue eyes at Leo and Calypso. "Everyone else has forgotten about Nico, even Piper and Frank. But why can _we_ remember him? And why can't _they_?"

Calypso was the one to answer his question, "I have a theory about that. And if it's true, then it's both a bad thing and a good thing."

Percy, who was leaning by the cabin door, sank down to the floor, and said in a serious tone. "Tell us."

The goddess gave the son of Poseidon a soft look, "I believe that the more impact Nico has on our lives. The harder it is for us to forget him. The slower the effect of the spell."

Annabeth nodded, eyes stormy, "That makes sense. Since he's rarely in camp, most of the campers here have already forgotten him despite the fact that they've known him for years. They'd hardly interacted with him like we did."

"And I haven't known Nico as long as you and Percy but I can still remember him because he's my brother." Hazel said as she gave a side-glance to Frank, "And he saved my life."

"Guys," Piper interrupted again, getting almost angry now, " _Who_ -"

"But Frank and Piper, surely Nico made a difference in their lives too, right?" Jason insisted, cutting off his girlfriend's questions.

"Yes, stronger than the other campers at the very least, but not as strong as the impact Nico made in the rest of your lives." Calypso said as she reached out her hands and took hold of Piper's and Frank's shoulder and arm. "But don't worry, since their bond with the child of Hades is stronger than the other campers, it makes it easier for them to remember."

Her hand glowed and as if on cue, Piper and Frank's faces paled.

"Oh gods…" Frank mumbled, eyes wide.

Piper was gasping, "Nico! H-How-"

The goddess let go of them as Jason placed a comforting arm around his girlfriend. Hazel took Frank's hands into hers as he trembled.

"But how come you can remember Nico?" Leo blinked in confusion at Calypso, "You've only met him recently and he both saved us, so why did _I_ forget first?"

Calypso pushed a stray lock of hair from her face, "I'm a goddess. Well, I _used_ to be a goddess." At the son of Hephaestus' look of confusion she clarified, "Ever since leaving Ogygia I'm slowly becoming a mortal. Eventually, I will forget Nico too, but because of my sorceress status, the spell is taking a while to take effect on me."

"And what about us?" Percy asked in worry.

"I'm sorry." She pursed her lips, "You'll slowly forget too." She admitted to the room at large, "Soon, it won't matter if we see the son of Hades' things or see something that reminds us of him. He'll be completely wiped away from our minds."

Majority of the room sucked in a worried breath.

"Isn't there _anything_ we can do?" Frank asked, voice hoarse.

"I'm doing everything I can to find a solution to the curse." Calypso said, "I've been looking through the books I've brought from my homeland and I've taken going to the Big House for Chiron's collection."

"Speaking of Chiron, has anyone told him what's happening? I'm sure he can help!" Percy insisted.

Leo grumbled, "We already went to him. Apparently he and Mr. D have been called back to Olympus for an urgent meeting, Argus' in-charge."

"Well, if we can't ask for their help then we'll have to do this on our own." Annabeth turned and glimpsed the sleeping son of Hades, "We'll ask for the blessings of the gods, Hazel maybe you can try to contact your father."

Hazel looked back to where Nico rested and reached out for him, holding the cold hand into her own. "I will do everything I can." She vowed. "I won't leave until he's okay."

"We'll help you." Piper said, "If I have to charmspeak myself into remembering, I'll do it."

The daughter of Pluto blinked, her eyes going misty as she nodded. "Thank you."

"We'll start looking for a solution right away." Annabeth said, standing up and dusting her shorts, everyone following suit immediately. "I'll try to see through the Hecate, Athena, and Apollo cabins' archives if they'd ever had a record of this curse and how to break it."

"I'll help." Piper said, standing up.

"Is there anything we can do?" Percy asked, lips pursed.

"I'll need more ingredients. I didn't want to deplete the stocks of the Apollo cabin had in the infirmary." Calypso said as she took out a list and gave it to Percy. "Some of these herbs can be found in the forest around the border and the rest you can ask from the dryads and naiads."

"I'm on it."

"I'll try to seek counsel from the gods." Jason said with a nod as he headed outside following after Percy and Annabeth.

"We'll stay here with Nico." Frank assured Calypso and Leo, who clearly had things to do.

The two nodded but before they left, Calypso placed a hand on Hazel's shoulder. "Everything will be alright."

The female Roman merely nodded, eyes drawn to her brother's face trying to memorize it.

It may be the last chance she gets.

* * *

Jason passed through the cheerful stragglers headed to have a late dinner at the dining pavilion. A few half-bloods tried to get his attention and to get him into a friendly chat but he merely shook his head and went on, until he spotted a familiar blond dragging himself through the crowd. Pale blue eyes met him and Will put on a smile.

"Hey, Jason." Will waved at the son of Jupiter who paused in hesitance.

"Will," Jason greeted warily. He didn't need another reminder of someone forgetting Nico. "What's up?"

The healer gave him a tired look, "I could tell you the sky but I don't want to be hit by a stray lightning from the sky god's son." He joked to which Jason gave a hesitant smile, "Anyway, I'm actually looking for Nico." He shrugged easily, "I asked the Stoll brothers but those guys were pulling my leg and kept asking who Nico was." The son of Apollo shook his head in annoyance.

Jason gaped at him, eyes wide, "You- Will, you _know_ who Nico is?"

Will tilted his head, eyebrows furrowed in confusion, "Is that a trick question?"

"Just answer me."

Will complied, "Dark-haired emo, this high, annoyingly aloof, son of Hades with a no-touchy rule."

Jason nodded, mouth dry, "Good, that's good." He ran a tired hand through his hair, "I think- yeah." He sighed, "Will, you should come with me."

Automatically, blue eyes narrowed and Jason inwardly marveled at the other's abrupt change in attitude. "Did something happen?" And to Jason's surprise he said, "Is it Nico?"

The son of Jupiter opened his mouth and then closed it, nodding. "Yeah, it's- it's Nico."

Will's jaw hardened as he nodded, placing a hand on the other's shoulder. "Tell me everything." He said, "And take me to him."

The son of Jupiter gave the blond's face a searching look, before finally, he let out a sigh, "Come with me."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the ball is rolling! I know, it's sort of a cliffy, but I wanted to end it this way XD hahaha. I'm drifting away a bit from this fandom, I hope I finish everything before that happens, or write out those incredible one-shots I've thought up before that happens (I have a bullet list and everything!) So see you guys in either I'll Stay With You or Loving You till It Hurts or maybe a random Solangelo one-shot. Feel free to leave a review or a pm in my inbox (tumblr or fanfiction) XD 'Tis a lonely place.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I was sitting there and thinking, "Video games, how do I write a story about solangelo and video games and making it as unique as possible." Silence. And then a voice that sounded so much like my sister whispered in my head, "Update FMNB instead." And I was like, "Oh right, OMG I FORGOT."
> 
> And so chapter 9 was remembered.

**CHAPTER 9**

_“No. Don't give up hope just yet. It's the last thing to go. When you have lost hope, you have lost everything. And when you think all is lost, when all is dire and bleak, there is always hope.”_  
― [Pittacus Lore](https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3380908.Pittacus_Lore),  _[I Am Number Four](https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/10576999)_

 

Jason brought Will up to speed with the actual events of what happened to Nico and more importantly  _why_. All the while, the blond medic's form was getting stiffer with every word and his expression became intimidating for the usually sunny son of Apollo.

"That's a really stupid thing to do." Will said under his breath after Jaosn explained Nico's choice for secrecy.

Jason gave him a sideway glance and a hesitant nod. "We thought the same thing, I mean we could understand why he did it but still-"

"It was still stupid. I can't believe that he went against a medic's instruction and shadow-travelled all the way to China and  _then_  he gets cursed on the way back." Will said, pale blue eyes narrowing, "And what was Chiron thinking, letting him go just like that?"

"Well, he  _is_  the son of Hades and the mission was technically under his father's division." Jason waved off Will's accusatory look, "I'm not defending him or his actions! What I'm saying Solace, is that we children of the Big Three tend to be a little bit reckless."

"A  _little_  bit?"

"Okay, a  _lot_  reckless. Maybe it's in our fathers' blood or something," The son of Jupiter said. "But Nico  _is_  powerful and he  _had_  the right to look into Leo's resurrection by himself. Also, if Chiron refused, Nico would have probably gone anyway and without keeping up communication with him at all. So it was safer to let Nico go by himself and receive daily correspondence than forbidding him and learning he snuck out anyway."

Will looked at Jason for a moment before facing forward again.

"Will?" Jason asked tentatively, "What's wrong?"

The blond medic pursed his lips, "Nothing, I-" He shook his head, "I guess it was just too much to hope for."

"Hope for what?"

Will gave him a sad look, "To hope that Nico would finally realize he wasn't alone."

"Oh." Jason said.

The two of them fell into silence right until they arrived outside of Hades' cabin.

* * *

Hazel had just finished trying to IM her father with little success when there was a tentative knock on the Hades' cabin door. Frank got up to open it and stepped aside to let Will and Jason in.

Hazel got up immediately, "How was it?" She asked Jason who was supposed to seek counsel from the gods. She wanted to ask what Will was doing there but… well, priorities.

Jason shook his head, "I ran into Will and I decided to fill him in. I haven't gone to ask for counsel yet." He said apologetically, "You?"

Hazel shook her head, "I spoke with Alecto, one of our father's guards. She said that the gods have been called to a meeting. Chiron and Mr. D are probably there too. They've isolated themselves but I'd hoped you'd managed to reach them anyway."

"What're they meeting about that's so important?"

"Apparently, they're trying to decide Apollo's punishment." Hazel said, shooting a quick glance at Will who was kneeling at Nico's side.

Jason frowned, "It's not like Apollo's the only one at fault, though."

"You know the gods, they need  _someone_  to blame for it." Hazel sighed ad she glanced at Nico worriedly. Jason followed her gaze.

"Will? How is he?" The son of Jupiter asked.

Will's brows were furrowed, his hands were glowing as he hovered them above Nico's chest and shoulder. Nico's whole form flickered, at the corner of Jason's eyes, he saw Hazel finch. Frank immediately placed an arm around her waist, supporting her.

"I can feel he had an injury in his shoulder before but the curse…" Will's eyes narrowed in concentration and he frowned, "I can't- there's nothing wrong with him. Nothing my healing can detect." He took back his hands and clenched them into fists.

Jason frowned and behind him he heard Hazel's choked sob. Before they could wallow in the tension in the room, the door opened.

"It's fine, son of Apollo, you're just not looking hard enough." Calypso said as she entered with Leo behind her.

"Calypso! Leo! Did you find anything?" Hazel asked immediately, her eyes shining with tears.

The ex-goddess shook her head, "Leo and I have tried browsing the books I've brought. We have a few more to go through and I decided to bring them here." She placed a tome book on the floor, Leo following her with two more. "I thought it would be best if we go through them together."

"I have to go and help Annabeth and Piper down at the Athena cabin." Leo gestured behind him, "I'm not all that good with books but it's better than doing nothing."

"I'll come with you." Jason said, "I still have things to do too."

Leo nodded. He and Jason exited the Hades cabin together.

Will immediately turned to Calypso when the door closed, "What do you mean I'm not looking hard enough? I'm doing healing magic, if there's something wrong with Nico-"

"A curse isn't like a physical injury or a ruptured organ, you can't detect it the same way." Calypso said patiently as she sat beside the son of Apollo. She gestured for Hazel and Frank to start looking through the books, they did so reluctantly. "It's not a part of Nico, it's not in his blood stream or in his lungs, it's not causing harm to his body but rather to his existence, his soul."

Will's brows furrowed and the goddess took his hands into hers. "You are an amazing healer Will Solace."

The blond medic's shoulders slumped as he finished her sentence for her. "But I'm no curse breaker."

"You're not." Calypso said with a sad smile, "It would take more than a healer's hands to break a curse."

Will's stiffened, "Then,  _what can I do?_ "

"So many things." Calypso said and pale blue eyes snapped to meet Calypso's warm ones. "You can't stop it  _but_  you can slow it down, until we find a way to cure Nico di Angelo."

"Like you're doing with the herbs?"

Calypso's face was marred by a frown. "The herbs are not  _that_  effective, but we're throwing everything we can at this curse." She said,

Will nodded, "If you need anything from the infirmary's supplies you can have it."

Hazel and Frank look over at Will in surprise while Calypso looks at him thoughtfully, "Thank you, that would be very helpful indeed."

The son of Apollo nodded, "In return," He started, "Can you teach me what needs to be done to help him with my healing?"

The goddess smiled, "It would be an honor to help a child of Apollo." The two of them turned towards Nico. She gestured for Will to take the son of Hades' hands once more. "What can you feel?"

"His full blood count, his heart beat per minute, the amount of cholesterol and sugar he has in his body-" Will started but Calypso placed a hand on his shoulder.

"You think you can look deeper than that?"

Will faltered, "I-" He looked uncertainly at the goddess.

"You're healing abilities are definitely impressive," She said, "But if you want to be a true healer, you must be able to see beyond his bodily functions. Can't you feel there's something that isn't right?"

Will's pale blue eyes were glowing eerily in the darkness of the cabin and he nodded quickly. Hazel and Frank had put down Calypso's books to watch.

Nico's breath faltered and his form flickered again. Hazel's breathing hitched and Will closed his eyes, tightening his hands around Nico's.

The blond medic's eyes opened and flashed gold. Calypso breathed in sharply as Will frowned in concentration, eyes flashing gold.

"There's darkness, the curse…?" Will asked uncertainly and Calypso nodded. "But it's a part of Nico as well, his- his powers." He cleared his throat, "but it's not, there's not supposed to be this much darkness."

"The curse is using that excess darkness to have Nico fade out of existence. But instead of just his body, it's working to erase the memory of Nico from our minds too." Calypso explained gravely. "We're working out to push the excess darkness, we can't get rid of it entirely because it's a part of him, but the less there is, the less effective the curse is."

Will nodded, lips pursed and sweat had started to gather at his forehead. Calypso gave him a sympathetic look. If only the son of Apollo had discovered this earlier, they may have been able to buy more time. But at the very least, they can buy Nico a day or two more, if Will could hang in there.

"You expel the darkness like you would every other disease or poison." Calypso said to Will, "The basics of healing."

Will nodded, his eyes flashing from gold to blue and back again as he struggled.

Calypso looked at the blond's strained face. He may be inexperienced but it doesn't mean he wouldn't  _try._ She smiled, this was one of the many things she liked about the demigods, they never give up even when the odds were against them.

Seeing Nico's form solidifying and his breathing easing, Hazel let out her own breath. She grabbed one of the thick tomes and went back to skimming, Frank followed her example.

Calypso continued to watch over Will's progress, transferring some of her energy to help.

She hopes that in the end it would be enough.

* * *

"I got the herbs you were- oh hey, Will!" Percy said when he barged in the Hades' cabin. His sea green eyes lit up, "You're here!"

The blond raised a tired hand and smiled at Percy's direction. "Heard you need some help." He was lying down on one of the beds. He blinked slowly, half his face buried on the pillow.

"We need all the help we can get." The son of Poseidon said seriously, "It's great that you can still remember, Nico. I mean, you do remember Nico, right?"

"Yeah."

"Did Calypso use her superpowers on you?"

Will shook his head and Hazel and Frank looked up curiously at his reply. "No, Jason saw me asking around for Nico."

Percy's eyebrow rose at that and he exchanged looks with a surprised Hazel. "Oh, really? Well, we're happy to have an Apollo medic on our side."

Will gave them a tired smile, dark circles under his eyes as he buried his face back into the pillow and promptly fell asleep.

Percy whistled as he closed the door behind him, "What got him so tired?"

"He's been doing his best to expel the darkness from Nico's system and slow down the curse." Calypso said from where she had been writing down some important spell. "It's his first time using his healing magic to try and heal a person's soul."

"Oh." Percy said as he carefully placed the herbs and other ingredients on the bedside table. He peered down at Nico who already seemed more solid than when he last saw him. "Well, at least he's helping more than I am. It's a good thing he hasn't forgotten like everyone else."

Frank patted the ex-praetor on his shoulder, "Hey, we're on the same boat and we're doing all we can to help, Nico. That's something."

Calypso nodded, "Exactly." She stood up and looked over the herbs, "Will Solace said that we have the ingredients of the infirmary at our disposal as well. I think I'll take him up on his offer."

"I'll grab what you need." Frank offered and Calypso began to list down the additional ingredients she might need.

Just as Frank was heading out the door, Annabeth, Piper, and Leo came in carrying books of different sizes.

"We managed to narrow it down to these books." Annabeth said, wiping her dusty hands on her shirt. She looked up and spotted Will, "Oh, Will Solace." Her eyes glinted knowingly, "I see, well it's good he remembers. We need all the healing help we can get."

Piper looked at Will in surprise. Then she looked at Nico, then back at will. "Are they… what I think they are?" She asked, being the first one to voice it out loud. "You know…"

"What?" Leo asked, wiping his brow with his arm. 'What are you talking about beauty queen?"

"Uhm, are these two…?" Piper gestured to Nico and Will. Hazel's eyes widened.

Ananbeth tried not to look smug, "Who knows?" Though the looks she gives them makes it seem like  _she_  does. "Let's go back to these books. What are we looking for Calypso? I have medicinal books, records on curses, books on actual curses…"

"All of that would be useful." Calypso said, "If you can find anything about Pasiphae's curse it would be helpful or any account of a similar curse being cast."

Piper nodded, "Got it." And she immediately got down to skimming. Everyone else followed her example, those with ADHD tackled the Greek texts, Hazel took the Roman ones.

Half an hour later, Jason and Frank came to join them.

"It's as Hazel said, the gods have isolated themselves for Apollo's punishment." The blond began as a greeting to the hopeful looks directed at him. "Their decision could take days at most, we can't depend on them. I tried contacting the minor gods, asking them if there was any mysterious Greek or Roman object at some place or healing herbs we can swipe but…" He shook his head, "As you know, there's only been a few children of the big Three for last century ever since the pact. Even rarely so, Hades' children. There's no actual solution how to stop a curse set on making your own powers devour you."

There was silence and Frank placed the gathered ingredients on one of the tables not occupied by books or tomes. With nothing else to do, they settled down to help with the reading.

In the middle of their reading, Annabeth made a curious noise and looked up. "I don't mean to lower our morale but I wanted to ask…" She said, faced towards Calypso who looked up, "How long do we have until the curse comes to pass?"

Tense silence filled the room. Calypso closed what she was reading. "I'll be straight to the point with everyone. When we found Nico earlier and I touched him, I realized he barely had two days left in him before the shadows took him and the curse took your memories of him." She said, "Already, as you know, Piper, Leo, and Frank had completely forgotten him."

The mentioned people flinched.

"A day later, Jason would follow, and then the only ones left who would remember, aside from me, would be Annabeth, Percy, and Hazel." Calypso said, "I'm uncertain as to when Will Solace will forget, but the moment Nico di Angelo physically fades, so would our memories of him, I believe those are the conditions of the curse. With no physical body as proof of our memories of him, Nico di Angelo will cease to exist."

She looked at everyone whose eyes were wide and horrified. Hazel looked seconds away from crying.

"But- that was before, now we have Will to do some healing mojo, right?" Leo asked, gesturing at the sleeping, tired blond. "Nico's looking better."

Everyone turned to the sleeping son of Hades and they all agreed. Nico's been looking more and more solid.

"How long do we have now?" Piper asked quietly.

"Despite having Apollo's healer on our side, with his inexperience in soul healing, he only managed to extend Nico's time to four or five days." Calypso admitted quietly.

Defeated silence fell over them.

"Well," Percy said injecting determination into his tome, "That's still more than two days. Will's done more than we could hope for, we have more time to find a cure. I mean, we've beaten deadlines before."

"You're right Jackson," Jason admitted, "But this time, there's no monster to fight, no quest to fulfill. At most, we're going through this blindly."

"But we're not giving up." Frank said firmly and then he looked around, "Right?"

Hazel took his hand and Jason smiled, "Right."

Annabeth gave them a determined nod and pretty soon everyone went back to reading.

They would all try their best.

* * *

In the end, they manage to gather a few spells and healing treatments worth a try. With the herbs in Apollo's cabin and the ones they asked from the dryads and naiads, they had enough to try all of the spells.

While Will continued to sleep off the exhaustion, Calypso and the others helped each other in making antidotes and performing spells.

As Frank and Leo rubbed some sort of goddess-made salve into Nico's chest, Calypso began muttering a spell she copied off one of her tomes, "Μια ισχυρότερη καρδιά , ένα ισχυρότερο μυαλό , δεσμεύουν την ψυχή και το σώμα του προς το φως." Her eyes glowed bright and for one moment, Nico's whole form fully solidified and he looked like his normal self but then-

Leo and Frank leapt backward when, for a few seconds, Nico's body vanished from sight.

"NICO!" Hazel yelled.

But then shadows started sprouting from the beddings and they formed a figure. The shadows slowly constructed Nico back as everyone watched on in disbelief. He regained his form and the shadows vanished to the ground once more.

He looked as he did before the spell, half-alive.

Hazel stepped up immediately, grabbing her brother and sobbing in relief when she touched his arm. Calypso stepped next to her and placed a hand on Nico's forehead.

"Well?" Annabeth asked anxiously.

The goddess shook her head.

"Did the spell make it worse?" Hazel asked, her eyes narrowing at Calypso.

The daughter of Atlas pursed her lips at the accusation in her tone, "No, it had no effect."

Jason let out a harsh breath as he rubbed Piper's back in comfort. The daughter of Aphrodite seemed stricken by what just happened.

Frank shifted, "Maybe it would be better if we laid off on the spells and potions? We don't know if they would make it worse or not."

"I maybe have to agree." Leo said uncertainly, shrugging at his girlfriend's glare.

"We don't know what would cure him." Calypso said, "One of these spells could break the curse but if you don't let me try, how would we know?"

"But what if it makes it worse? What if one of these spells complete the curse and Nico vanishes?" Piper asked too, her multi-colored eyes uncertain.

"For a cure of such a dangerous curse, there must be a high risk as well. It cannot be avoided." Calypso said grimly.

Percy looked uncertain but he nodded, "Calypso's right." When everyone turned to him, he sighed. "I mean, we've faced tasks like this before, right guys? We had to go through high risks during our quests before we could defeat the bad guys. This is just like that."

Jason let out a breath, "Jackson's right. We can't give up. And it's not like there's any other option."

He looked at everyone else. There was tension in the air and distrust was coming from Hazel, but he could see that everyone knew he was right.

"We'll keep trying." Annabeth finally said.

Everyone went back to work.

* * *

"Tonics that build health and vitality…" Calypso muttered under her breath, "Therapeutic agents to adjust bodily functions…"

It was around eleven in the evening, with Calypso going through her gathered information while Hazel and Frank kept watch on Nico, that Will finally woke up from his exhausted sleep. Percy and Jason were camped out on one of the bunk beds. Annabeth, Piper, and Leo had gone back to their own cabins, because they were head counselors with a lot of siblings to manage. Each of them brought specific instructions to be kept in a bottle around their necks so that if they woke up and had forgotten Nico, it would tell them about the situation at hand.

Will should actually be in his own cabin too but knowing Annabeth, she probably went ahead to Apollo's cabin to assign either Justin or Kayla to be in-charge in the meantime.

"Did you sleep well?" Calypso asked when the blond medic found her outside, sitting on the porch steps. Everyone in camp knew that, as long as you were at least by the porch steps of your cabin, the harpies won't try to eat you.

Will nodded tiredly and slumped next to the goddess.

"Soul healing takes a lot of time and energy." She said wisely once she surveyed Will's pale face.

Will ran a hand down his face, "I wish I'd learned about it sooner. Maybe I could buy you guys some more time if I-"

"Don't blame yourself, none of this is your fault." Calypso said as she closed the book, "We should at least be thankful that you've taken well to soul healing. You've done more than enough."

"I wish I could do more." Will said looking helplessly at his hands, "Maybe even break the curse."

The goddess gave him a sad look, "A curse created by a vengeful goddess isn't one to be easily broken by a mere demigod through healing." She said, "It takes years of study and practice in the art of sorcery to even break a curse."

Pale blue eyes looked at her, "But you can do it, right?"

"If I find a record on a similar curse being cast or if I can find the counter-curse spell then perhaps…" Calypso said quietly, "But my power is fading and Nico is barely hanging on, time is of the essence, breaking the curse is not... a full guarantee."

Will's shoulders slumped at her words, "Suddenly, fighting monsters seem so much easier than this."

Their conversation dissolves into silence.

"Jason Grace has told you everything that has happened so far, am I right?" Calypso asked. Will gave her a sideway glance at the change of subject.

"Yeah, well, he's told me as much as he could."

The goddess nodded, "Then, you know why there are so few people that can remember Nico di Angelo."

Will gave her a wide-eyed look before slowly turning to look away. "The more effect he has on a person's life, the longer time they can remember him."

"We managed to identify which of us is closest to Nico and why. It's not in the  _how long_  we've known him but on  _how well_  we know him." Calypso said, "And everyone had the same question when they saw you. Why do  _you_  remember, Will Solace?"

Silence answered her question for several seconds.

"Honestly?" Will said in a silent tone, "I have no idea, too."

Calypso studied him for a while before nodding, urging him to continue.

"I've seen him before- well, before he went lone wolf and lost Bianca. But we've never talked, even after the whole deal with Percy refusing immortality. He was just that super emo guy who was determined to be different and alone, who believed everyone hated him because he never made any effort to try and be friends with them." Will said with a weak gesture, "Seeing him even annoyed me, because he was so determined to  _run away_  from  _everything_. And he kept thinking he was alone and different from the whole world, which was stupid because, well, because that's what camp is for, right? Because demigods didn't fit in with the rest, so we come here and we find our home in each other instead."

The blond drew up one leg to his chest, "Anyway, aside from annoying me sometimes, I don't- I'm just as lost as you guys are as to why I haven't forgotten him like everybody else in camp."

Calypso said nothing and Will pursed his lips.

"But whatever the reason is, I'm glad that I haven't." The blond said firmly, "I want to help."

Calypso smiled helplessly at his determination. She was about to open her mouth to thank him, when the door to Hades cabin opened and Frank came outside.

"Nico's awake."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Additional information:** So, Calypso is a sorceress, she can make salves for healing and potions for healing she can curse someone, identify a curse, or lift a curse, she can enchant object but she can't heal with her powers. She maybe, can amplify the use of healing herbs but healing magic is completely under Apollo's jurisdiction.
> 
> **Greek made-up spell's translation:** _A stronger heart, a stronger mind, bind his soul and body to the light_
> 
> This story has gone out of control and it could end in the next three or two chapters. Thank you so much for the support and I AM SO SORRY I FORGOT ABOUT THIS
> 
> Also, why do you guys think Will remembers Nico?


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm having trouble with school and my eyes.

 

 **CHAPTER 10**  
_“No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.”_  
― [Gautama Buddha](https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2167493.Gautama_Buddha), [Sayings Of Buddha](https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/4161250)

Nico opened his eyes when he heard the door close. Hazel was kneeling by his side, his hand held tightly in hers. She felt warm and solid, like an anchor keeping him from going away.

A hand brushes across his forehead and Nico focused back into the present. He looked up and saw Calypso looking down at him with pursed lips. Behind her-

"Solace." Nico croaked in surprise. He looked around and to his confusion, Percy and the others were also there, looking at him in concern, "Wha-?"

"You _idiot_." Will snapped and the dark-haired teen flinched back in surprise. Calypso stepped back as Will stepped forward, blue eyes narrowed, "What were you _thinking_? No, don't answer that," He said, not even giving Nico a chance to open his mouth. "Jason and the others already told me everything that's happened and why you did what you did."

Nico turned to look at the others and they seemed equally shocked by the blond's sharp tone.

"You went against everything I told you, you used your powers, you shadow-traveled, you got _hurt_ and now… now, I-" Will stopped and swallowed thickly, "I can't do _anything_."

Everyone was looking at Will now. Annabeth gave him a sympathetic look, "Will…" The blond looked up to her and she shook her head. At her look, Will's shoulders slumped and he moved back, looking defeated.

Nico looked surprised at the exchange, then slowly his eyes drifted at everyone's faces. No one seemed to be able to meet his eyes and Hazel's hands were trembling. His shoulder was burning and he felt strangely detached, like he had no energy left in his body.

"Am I dying?"

The words turned everyone's attention to him.

"No!" Hazel said, eyes teary. "You'll be okay- you won't- I won't let you-"

But then Frank placed a hand on her shoulder, stopping her words. Hazel breathed in shakily and shook her head. Nico turned tiredly towards Annabeth, the only one he can trust to bluntly tell him what was happening.

Annabeth frowned, as though she knew why Nico was looking to her for answers. She crossed her arms trying to delay the truth but eventually obliged. She didn't like being the bearer of bad news.

"You're not dying." She said clearly, but it did nothing to dispel the unease Nico felt. He knew there was something more to it. Sure enough, she continued, "What's happening to you is much worse."

Nico closed his eyes, brow furrowed, "Pasiphae's curse…"

"…Is destroying your very existence." To everyone's surprise, it was Calpyso who spoke. She felt she had failed the son of Hades by not protecting him and stopping Pasiphae's curse. It's her responsibility to tell him everything, especially since out of the all of them, she was the one who understood most of what was happening. "Her curse has latched on to your powers and it is… _consuming_ you." She inhaled deeply and steeled herself, "As you've noticed and as Will Solace has told us, when you overuse your powers your shadows leech on to your physical substance, breaking it down and transforming you into a ghost-like state. Pasiphae's cure has amplified the effects of your shadows and instead of merely deteriorating your physical body's form, it has extended itself to your very existence."

Grim silence followed her words. Nico had nothing to say.

"The process of your disintegration started the moment Pasiphae's blade touched you." Calypso admitted, her eyes downturned. "What we did to expel the darkness in you…" She thought back to the herbs she'd applied to Nico's body and the darkness that came out of him, "…merely delayed the curse's course."

Then Calypso admitted their greatest fear, "We do not know how to stop it."

Nico's breath hitched and Hazel's hold on his hand tightened. His voice came out hoarse, "When you say existence…"

"Everyone outside of this cabin don't even know who you are." Piper spoke up and then she turned away shamefully, "Even I forgot, for a short time."

"So did Leo and I." Frank admitted, face sad and worn. "It's only thanks to Calypso that we remembered."

Calypso shook her head, "Don't thank me yet. My powers are limited, now, you only continue to remember because we are here and you can see Nico for yourselves. It's difficult to deny the existence of someone who is right in front of your eyes. As long as you three remain here from now on, we can delay the effects of the curse on you."

"You mean delay the inevitable," Nico said tiredly.

Hazel gasped and gave him a sharp look, "Don't say that!"

"Nico," Jason said sternly, "We'll save you."

"Children of Hades rarely end up happy," Nico said in a tone that suggested he was merely repeating something he'd heard a long time ago, "And if there really is someone who'd be an exception to that, it's definitely not going to be me." He gave Hazel a soft, tired look.

Percy frowned at those words, "We're not giving up, Nico."

"Yeah," Leo echoed, "Believe in us. If we can save the world from evil, sleeping, dirt-face goddesses, then we can save _you_."

Nico looked at his friends' determined faces, feeling warmth in his chest. A year ago, he wouldn't have imagined ever having this, people fighting for him. His gaze drew away from the others and found Will. He was the only one who'd been able to look at him throughout the whole thing. The head medic's face was exhausted but determination burned in his eyes.

"So," Nico turned back to his friends. "Why are you guys the only one who remember me?"

"Calypso's theory is that, the more impact you have on a person's life, the harder it is to erase you from their memories." Annabeth said, "Calypso is a sorceress though, so the curse's effect on her is slower than the rest of us."

"Reyna remembers you." Hazel said and Nico turned to her, "She's back at the Roman camp, doing everything she can to find a way to help."

Nico felt an indescribable warmth in his chest at the mention of the female praetor's determination to help even though she didn't know what was happening. He looked at everyone, never expecting to have made such impact on so many lives. His eyes stopped at Will, curiosity and surprise coloring his face. Hazel was also looking between them, face thoughtful.

Noticing everyone's attention shifting, Piper cleared he throat, "Anyway, it's best if we get back to work, right?" She said, "We don't have much time."

Ananbeth nodded, "Frank, Piper, and Leo, stay here. I think I have to go the Big House and see if they have anymore books. Percy, I think you need to call Rachel. Ask her if she sees anything useful."

Percy nodded gravely.

"I'll IM Reyna and see if she's found anything." Jason said, heading out.

Calypso turned to those left behind, "Let's continue looking through these books. Will?" She turned to the blond, "Are you okay to try and keep healing?"

Will looked a bit pale but nodded nonetheless, to Nico's surprise, the blond sat on his bedside. Hazel slid down to the floor to help with the research. Nico looked up at Will's tired, blue eyes. His eyes traced the dark bags under them.

"Don't push yourself too hard." Nico whispered sternly, he closed his mouth when Will cupped his face.

Sharp blue eyes looked down at Nico's dark ones. Will traced his thumb against Nico's cheek, he blushed at the tender motion. "Shut up." Will said before pulling away and taking Nico's hand into his. His blue eyes flashed golden and Nico's eyes widened, heart skipping a beat.

Piper smiled behind the book she was reading, exchanging knowing looks with Calypso.

Nico closed his eyes and allowed himself to be lulled into a restful sleep by Will's warmth.

* * *

"Reyna?" Jason asked, the connection wavering for a moment when the female praetor rubbed her head, "Is everything okay?"

Reyna pursed her lips, expression conflicted. She didn't answer his question and said instead, _"Anyway, I've sent everything I could find over. I'd come myself, but with Frank there, I can't leave New Rome without a praetor."_

"We understand," Jason nodded, "Thank you."

Reyna shook her head, _"It's all I can do."_ Her face falls, _"I'm sorry."_

Jason blinked, "Why are you apologizing?"

" _Jason Grace, the next time you contact me I won't be able to help."_ Reyna said with her teeth gritted. Jason's eyes widened, _"I-I can't believe I'm being beaten by some third-rate sorceress' curse."_

"Reyna…"

The female praetor inhaled deeply, _"Do all you can to help him, I'm afraid I can't be of much help anymore."_

"You did more than enough, Reyna." Jason said firmly. "Thank you."

Reyna gave him a sad smile. _"I hope so."_ She placed her hands together, closing her eyes as though in prayer. _"One more thing, can you tell Nico something for me?"_

"Anything."

Reyna's eyes pierced him, _"Tell him he better not disappear."_ Then her face softened into regret, _"And I'm sorry."_

Jason nodded, face worried, as Reyna cut off the Iris Message.

* * *

" _Nothing."_

"What do you mean by nothing?" Percy asked tiredly.

" _I'm sorry Percy but I can't 'See' because of Apollo's punishment, you know that."_ Rachel said, apologetically. " _Right now, I'm just a normal mortal girl who can see through the mist. There isn't much I can try to see when it comes to the future, not while Lord Apollo is out of commission."_

Percy's shoulders slumped, "I don't know what do, Rachel. Nico's helped us so much and when everything was finally going to be okay-" He ran a hand through his hair, "I promised Bianca I'd protect him."

Rachel gave him a sad look. _"You demigods really don't have it easy."_ She said, _"I'm sorry but you must have already known when you contacted me, that I wouldn't know, or remember, who this Nico person is. And even with my Sight, it would have been difficult, nearly impossible, to see his future."_

"But I had to at least _try_." The son of Poseidon insisted, "Usually there's a magic cure or- or a hint or _something_."

Rachel gave Percy a sympathetic look, _"I'm afraid this time, you guys are on your own."_

Percy closed his eyes in defeat.*

* * *

Calypso could see the hopelessness in everyone's faces when they came back. Jason's face was grave as he brought in books the female praetor of New Rome had sent. Ananbeth's face was set in an almost permanent frown, forehead scrunched as she brought in only two books from the Big House she deemed to be somewhat helpful. Percy's shoulders were slumped and no one needed to ask him to know that his consultation with the Seer was a dead end.

Still, everyone made the effort to be upbeat, tirelessly reading and rereading cramped notes on spells and skimming ancient tomes. Jason, Frank and Hazel tackled the Roman books Reyna sent and Annabeth and the others took the rest.

Will Solace helped by trying to flush the excess darkness in Nico's soul and by mixing herbs and giving general opinions and advices on the tonics Calypso was making. His face was pale, the bags under his eyes more pronounced, he looked barely able to function but he persevered.

Percy and Annabeth brought in food and change of clothes for everyone. Leo, Piper, and Frank couldn't afford to leave or they'd forget too. Everyone decided to stay in Hades' cabin for the unforeseeable future. Thankfully, the night harpies that usually attacked those not in their respective cabins were indisposed, because of some prank. Chiron had reminded the counselors, before he left, that they were to keep strict lookout for any misbehaving demigods.

All of the Greeks currently staying in the Hades cabin were head counselors, but they managed to assign their responsibilities to their second-in-commands and made their excuses.

Night had fallen again, Piper was leaning against Jason and fast asleep while the blond Roman rubbed his eyes, trying to read through the book in his lap. Annabeth and Percy were curled up against each other, Calypso couldn't tell if they were asleep or talking quietly. Leo was making some complicated version of the London Bridge with the things he got from his tool belt. Concentrating on books was hard for him.

Frank was asleep on the floor by the door, Hazel was leaning against the wall, her knees hugged to her chest and watching Nico as though she was afraid he would disappear if she looked away. She was tired too, her eyes often falling closed before she would shake herself awake.

Nico was still asleep and Will Solace, beside him, looked terrible. The healing was taking its toll, on him and everyone had tried to stop him but the son of Apollo was stubborn to a fault.

"It's the only sure way to delay the effects." Will said, the shine he usually carried around as a son of Apollo had dimmed. Even his eyes looked dull but his expression was determined.

Right now he was looking down sightlessly at his hands holding Nico's. They were barely glowing. Calypso approached worriedly and carefully placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Will?"

The blond didn't respond and the young goddess grew worried as she shook his shoulder gently, "Will?"

Calypso's widened when Will slipped from her grasp and fell to the floor, unmoving. Everyone jumped when she let out a shout.

"Will!"

* * *

"How is he?" Piper asked when Jason and Percy came back from the infirmary.

"He fainted from exhaustion," Jason sighed, "The Apollo cabin isn't happy and spent a few minutes interrogating us."

" _What? Soul healing?" Kayla repeated, eyes wide. "What's that?"_

 _Austin was looking through the few Greek books in the infirmary and frowned when he found the page related to_ soul healing _. His eyes scanned the page and he looked at Percy and Jason, disapproval in his eyes. "According to this, sold healing is very dangerous especially when done by a first-timer. What in Hades were you guys doing that Will had to use it?"_

"We tried to tell them about Nico," Percy contributed, "But they kept forgetting and well, eventually we got away and came back here."

"What are we going to do?" Hazel asked, wide eyes worried. She was wringing her hands her hands in distress. Frank placed an arm around her waist, pulling her close. "Without Will, we can't delay the curse."

Annabeth pursed her lips, "We just have to be quicker with finding a cure. Piper," She turned to the daughter of Aphrodite. "We'll have to make back-up plan, just in case. Can you use your charmspeak to will Nico solid? Or if it doesn't work, at least use it to compel us not to forget him?"

Piper nodded and first headed to the unconscious son of Hades.

Everyone watched her do this, wishing it would work. For now, this was all they could do.

* * *

_Nico opened his eyes and found himself looking up at the sky. He was dreaming again._

" _Oh, Nico, hello there. I have a feeling it's been awhile since I last saw you." Said a familiar sleepy vice. The son of Hades sat up and turned, startled._

" _Clovis!"_

_The son of Hypnos smiled sleepily at him but then he frowned, "Hm, there's something about you, a darkness that's followed you into your dreams. And not the usual darkness you usually carried around too."_

_Nico looked at him wide-eyed, "I- you remember me?"_

_Clovis blinked, "Yes, but I'm guessing I'm not supposed to?"_

_Nico snorted and laid back down, "No, unless I had a huge impact on your life or something."_

_The blond tilted his head and waved his hand. Nico blinked when he found himself in the Hypnos Cabin. The fire was warm and he was on one of their soft beds. Clovis sat on his favorite squashy armchair, turned in the direction of the son of Hades._

" _There seems to be a story you should be telling me." He said quietly and his voice seem to lull Nico into a sense of peace and quietness. In this place, in this dream world where Clovis remembered him, he seemed to be untouched by the curse._

_And so, he told his story._

" _Dreams are filled with limitless possibilities, it is here where reality cannot touch you. It is a realm even the gods cannot harm you in. They can come here and talk to you but they can't harm you here. This is probably why I can remember you, because this is not reality, the curse can't touch you here, you can exist here." Clovis said._

" _So even if I fade out there, I can still be here? I can exist here where everyone remembers me?" Nico asked, eyes trained on the ceiling._

" _Dreams are limitless," Clovis said quietly, "And you shouldn't give up," He yawned, "Don't you believe in Percy and the others?"_

_Nico smiled, "Yeah, if anyone can beat the curse it would be the legendary seven."_

" _And Will Solace." Clovis added and Nico snapped a look towards him. The son of Hypnos smiled sleepily, "Come on Nico, after everything you have to admit there's something there."_

_The son of Hades flushed, "Shut up."_

_Clovis closed his eyes, "Right now, Will Solace is in this place of dreams. Do you want to go visit him, for old time's sake?"_

_Nico narrowed his eyes at the other, trying to see if the son of Hypnos was doing this to tease him but the other merely smiled. The son of Hades sat up and huffed, "Is this your way of getting rid of me?"_

" _No, of course not. You're welcome to stay you know, if you want." Clovis said and Nico crossed his arms._

" _I don't want to bother you, er- what do you exactly do here?" Nico asked, "Aside from sleep, which doesn't make sense since you're already actually sleeping?"_

" _Hm, I guess, with our Oracle out of commission, I'm the one who's on the lookout for trouble." Clovis explained, "As you know, demigod dreams are powerful things. It was through me that Annabeth was able to communicate with Percy when he was sent to the Roman Camp and it is because of dreams that we've managed to see what our enemies are planning with them not noticing us."_

" _You're right," Nico nodded. Clovis smiled._

" _So? Do you want to join me in sleeping here or do you want to be guided to Will Solace's dreams?"_

_Nico grumbled, "I've had enough of sleeping." He said, "Fine, take me to where Solace is."_

_With a wave of his hand, the surroundings around Nico changed and Clovis vanished from view._

* * *

_Will was seated on one of the infirmary beds. The infirmary was dark and it was late, the only source of light was the moonlight from the windows._

_Nico approached the blond quietly and when he stood next to him, he spoke, "Will? Is everything okay?"_

_The blond turned to him, eyes wide, "Nico, you're here."_

_The son of Hades blinked and sat beside him, "Uh, yeah." Will continued to look at him with wide eyes and the dark-haired teen blushed at the attention and looked away, "What?"_

" _You're supposed to be back at Hades' cabin." Will said quietly, "I'm supposed- I'm supposed to be healing you."_

_Nico turned back to Will, his eyebrows were furrowed, "You remember that?"_

_Will nodded, "If you're here and you're okay, then either we found you a cure or… this must be a dream…"_

_Nico nodded, "Seems like I can only move freely when I'm dreaming."_

_Will's face became sad, "I wasn't able to help you much."_

_Nico snorted, "You helped more than anyone." There was silence and Nico nearly jumped when he felt Will lean against him and bury his face against his shoulder. He blushed when he looked down and his face was met with shaggy blond hair._

" _I'm sorry."_

_Nico's expression softened and unable to resist, he ran a hand through Will's hair. (Hey, this was a dream, he could do what he wanted.) "For what?"_

" _For only being able to help you this much." Will mumbled, "If I had known about soul healing magic sooner I could have-"_

_Nico pulled at his hair in annoyance, making Will wince. "Not your fault." He said and Will looked up at him, blue eyes tired. "I think I preferred it when you were angry at me rather than you moping around like a sad sack."_

_Will was quiet at that and Nico tugged at his hair again, "Will?"_

" _A woman was here earlier," Will said, "I don't remember who she was, our conversation was like a bad t.v. connection but I remember some things she told me."_

" _What was it?"_

_Will turned to him with somber blue eyes, "She said, that the next time I woke up, I won't remember you."_

_Nico inhaled sharply. Will took Nico's hands in his own, blue eyes downcast._

" _I've failed."_

_Nico gripped his hands tightly, "Will…"_

" _I know I'm not hero material, that compared to Percy and the rest of the seven I'm just a healer but…" Will swallowed, "I wanted to save you, this time."_

_Nico blinked in surprise._

" _You're always putting yourself in danger and doing stupid things, getting yourself hurt-" Will berated, "And even when you weren't sure if people would acknowledge you, you bravely fought. You've saved this camp and everyone, always on your own."_

_Will pressed his forehead against Nico's, "I don't want to forget you." He said, "I don't want to wake up and not remember you, Nico."_

" _Will," Nico carefully pulled back his hands and cupped the blond's face. Will blinked and met Nico's dark eyes. "Thank you." He said before he leaned in and gave the son of Apollo a soft kiss._

_Will made a soft sound of surprise, one hand raising up to hold Nico's. Blue eyes fell close, when Nico held him closer, dropping his hands to the blond's shoulder._

_Eventually, the two parted and Will wrapped his arms around Nico, holding him and burying his face in the other's shoulder again._

" _I don't want to forget you." Will whispered quietly. Nico closed his eyes and merely returned the hug._

_He had nothing to say when it came to the inevitable._

* * *

Will woke up to the sun shining on his face, rousing him from a strangely bittersweet dream. He heard a noise of relief from his right when his eyes opened and some persistent prods and pokes, trying to see if he was okay.

There were questions directed at him but he couldn't find it in him to answer, too tired to say anything and to understand. He merely closed his eyes and drifted back off to sleep.

The next time he woke up, it was evening and someone was sitting at the corner of his bed.

"Will," There was a sigh of relief and the blond turned and met Annabeth's gray eyes. "Thank the gods you're awake, how're you feeling?"

"Sore," Will managed to rasp out and Annabeth immediately stood up and gave him a cup of water. He took it and drank it all gratefully. "What happened?"

Ananbeth shot him a sharp look, "You collapsed, you took your healing too far."

Will rubbed his forehead, "Sorry." He frowned, "Sounds like something I would do."

Annabeth continued to look at him with a frown on her face. He cleared his throat.

"So, uhm, I think everything's a little blurry, possibly because of exhaustion and uh- lack of sleep… But, who was I healing before I collapsed?"

Gray eyes widened and Ananbeth's expression became guarded, "Will… you know Nico di Angelo, right?"

At the name, Will's chest ached and he rubbed at the front of his shirt frowning. Will answered the last thing Annabeth wanted to hear, "I'm sorry, _who_?"

The daughter of Athena closed her eyes in defeat, "He's-" She shook her head, pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration. "It's nothing." That's what she said, but from the expression on her face, it was far from nothing.

Will frowned and rubbed at his chest even harder, why did he have a feeling like he'd forgotten something very important?

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's notes: *I know in this scene Rachel might seem unsympathetic but the curse has a funny way of working on everyone who knows Nico. When you don't exist, people forget you're there, and generally there is a sort of none caring attitude. What is happening in that scene is basically Rachel trying to help a person she generally does not know exists, like how a stranger would comfort a mourning stranger. A detached feeling or something like that.
> 
> And also there was part of the spell that said 'and none shall care'
> 
> So, yep, here is the next chapter. Hurrah, sorry I've been having trouble with school and my eyes lately. I found a white something in my left iris and my sister scared me and told me it was a sign of early blindness and that I had to stop using my phone and laptop for awhile. I told my dad but he doesn't have money to have my eyes checked up so, I had to stop with my gadgets and everything.
> 
> And the clue on why Will Solace managed to remember Nico for so long is because of that woman who visited Will in his dreams. Guess who she is? Hehehe, okay until next time!

**Author's Note:**

> If you like it, then come and view my [tumblr](http://emrysblu.tumblr.com) for more solangelo works <3


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